Voi chẳng đẻ, đẻ thì lớn

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Something unlikely to happen may still occur and have significant consequences

Literally: Elephant doesn't give birth, but when it does, it's big

Examples

Tôi không nghĩ anh ấy sẽ thành công, nhưng voi chẳng đẻ, đẻ thì lớnI didn't think he would succeed, but voi chẳng đẻ, đẻ thì lớn

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 “Voi chẳng đẻ, đẻ thì lớn” mean?

Something unlikely to happen may still occur and have significant consequences Literally: Elephant doesn't give birth, but when it does, it's big

Is “Voi chẳng đẻ, đẻ thì lớn” formal or informal?

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

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