thuyền nan chở đá, thuyền lá chở sắt
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
People are judged based on their appearance
Literally: bamboo boat carries rocks, leaf boat carries iron
Examples
Anh ta mặc quần áo đẹp nhưng không có khả năng, thuyền nan chở đá, thuyền lá chở sắt thậtHe dresses well but has no ability, it's true that people are judged based on their appearance
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “thuyền nan chở đá, thuyền lá chở sắt” mean?
People are judged based on their appearance Literally: bamboo boat carries rocks, leaf boat carries iron
Is “thuyền nan chở đá, thuyền lá chở sắt” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.