English · Word pair Candidate

ups and downs

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Experiences of good and bad fortune or success

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Trải nghiệm may mắn và bất hạnh hoặc thành công

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: high and low points

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

A man's life has its ups and downs.Lúc lên voi, lúc xuống chó.

Tatoeba sentence #26431 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)

Sources & notes

Listed on Wikipedia “Irreversible binomial” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Equivalents & related

Near equivalent lên voi xuống chó to have ups and downs in one's life; to go from rags to riches and/or riches to rags; to move up and down the socioeconomic ladder Tiếng Việt Near equivalent sóng gió (noun) storm; troubles; ups and downs; vicissitudes (of life) Tiếng Việt Near equivalent mưa gió (noun) vicissitudes of life; ups and downs Tiếng Việt Near equivalent thăng trầm (noun) ups and downs Tiếng Việt Near equivalent phong ba (noun) the vicissitudes of life; the reverses or tricks of fortune; the ups and downs Tiếng Việt Near equivalent thịnh suy (noun) ups and downs Tiếng Việt Near equivalent rags to riches From poverty to wealth English · via lên voi xuống chó

Lighter cards are two steps away in the meaning graph — equivalents of equivalents, reached via the entry shown on the card.

Common questions

What does “ups and downs” mean?

Experiences of good and bad fortune or success Literally: high and low points

Is “ups and downs” formal or informal?

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

What is the closest equivalent?

“lên voi xuống chó” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.