đầu cua tai nheo

Vietnamese

Etymology

Literally "crab's head and catfish's ears".

Some articles also suggest that the morpheme tai here is not "ear", but Chinese 鰓／鳃 (“fish gill”) (SV: tai), so the phrase is instead "crab's head and catfish's gills".

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɗəw˨˩ kuə˧˧ taːj˧˧ ɲɛw˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɗəw˦˩ kuə˧˧ taːj˧˧ ɲɛw˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɗəw˨˩ kuə˧˧ taːj˧˧ ɲɛw˧˧]

Noun

đầu cua tai nheo

1. (idiomatic) details in a story or event

See also

• đầu đuôi