xác như vờ, xơ như dộng
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
completely different from what was expected
Literally: body like a ghost, bones like a cave
Examples
Tôi tưởng anh ta giỏi lắm, nhưng xác như vờ, xơ như dộng, chẳng làm được việc gì.I thought he was very skilled, but it turned out to be completely different from what I expected, he couldn't do anything.
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 “xác như vờ, xơ như dộng” mean?
completely different from what was expected Literally: body like a ghost, bones like a cave
Is “xác như vờ, xơ như dộng” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.