tham thì thâm

Vietnamese

Etymology

Literally “if you’re greedy, you’ll get bruises” or “gluttons get bruises”. In this case, the word thâm (“bruise”), which is phonetically similar to tham (“greedy”), stands for “one’s downfall”.

Pronunciation

  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [tʰaːm˧˧ tʰi˨˩ tʰəm˧˧]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [tʰaːm˧˧ tʰɪj˧˧ tʰəm˧˧]
  • (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [tʰaːm˧˧ tʰɪj˨˩ tʰəm˧˧]

Phrase

tham thì thâm

  1. (idiomatic) grasp all, lose all
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