Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Uống nước chè tàu, ăn trầu cơi thiếc

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To be overly polite or courteous to someone's face

Literally: Drinking Chinese tea, eating betel nut with tin areca

Examples

Anh ta uống nước chè tàu, ăn trầu cơi thiếc với sếp mớiHe was overly polite to his new boss

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Headword listed in the vdict.com proverb dictionary index (discovery source; headword only — no source content copied). Entered as candidate 2026-08-05; definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-08; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Uống nước chè tàu, ăn trầu cơi thiếc” mean?

To be overly polite or courteous to someone's face Literally: Drinking Chinese tea, eating betel nut with tin areca

Is “Uống nước chè tàu, ăn trầu cơi thiếc” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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