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Cõng rắn cắn gà nhà

Meaning: To bring in an outsider who harms your own people.

Language: Vietnamese

Literally: To carry a snake home to bite your own chickens

Category: Animals

Origin: A Vietnamese image of betrayal — inviting the very enemy that then turns on your household.

More idioms — Animals

  • Jakkals trou met wolf se vrou — A sunshower — rain while the sun shines.
  • Koeitjies en kalfies — Idle small talk.
  • Bobbejaan agter die bult — To worry about troubles that may never come.
  • Мува без главе — To rush about chaotically and without direction.
  • Гладна мечка хоро не играе — Nothing gets done on an empty stomach.
  • Iti rakom žvižgat — To go to ruin; to fall apart.

More Vietnamese idioms

  • Ăn cơm nhà vác tù và hàng tổng — To do thankless public work at your own expense.
  • Đứng núi này trông núi nọ — Never satisfied with what you have; the grass is always greener.
  • Ăn cháo đá bát — To be ungrateful and turn on those who helped you.
  • Nước đổ lá khoai — Advice or effort that has no effect at all; in one ear and out the other.

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