trông mặt mà bắt hình-dung
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Reading the face to sketch the character — judgment drawn from a glance at the features.
Literally: view the face and seize the likeness
Examples
Trông mặt mà bắt hình dong.Reading the whole character off the face.
Editorial example (VI sweep batch 040, illustrative)
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 is an original editorial synthesis, not copied from the source.
Common questions
What does “trông mặt mà bắt hình-dung” mean?
Reading the face to sketch the character — judgment drawn from a glance at the features. Literally: view the face and seize the likeness
Is “trông mặt mà bắt hình-dung” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.