Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Xâm xê bất tề, thợ nề đôi ba li

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

A small mistake can lead to bigger problems

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Một sai lầm nhỏ có thể dẫn đến vấn đề lớn hơn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: Ants invade, two or three bricks collapse

Examples

Nếu không sửa lỗi nhỏ ngay từ đầu, sự việc sẽ trở nên xâm xê bất tề, thợ nề đôi ba liIf we don't fix the small error from the start, things will become complicated, like ants invading and two or three bricks collapsing

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 “Xâm xê bất tề, thợ nề đôi ba li” mean?

A small mistake can lead to bigger problems Literally: Ants invade, two or three bricks collapse

Is “Xâm xê bất tề, thợ nề đôi ba li” formal or informal?

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

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