đồ bỏ đi

[ɗo˨˩ bɔ˧˨ʔ ɗi˧˧]insult, dehumanizing, character

What does đồ bỏ đi mean? đồ bỏ đi is a Vietnamese strong that translates to “worthless trash / waste of space” in English.

thing throw away

01

"worthless trash / waste of space"

You're not even worth keeping — you should be discarded like garbage. The 'đồ' classifier does its dehumanizing work again, and 'bỏ đi' (throw away) completes the picture. You are refuse awaiting collection.

An angry father: 'Đồ bỏ đi! Học hành không ra gì!' (You worthless thing! Your studies amount to nothing!)

Context

  • Informal settings where profanity is accepted
  • Expressing strong frustration or emphasis
  • Direct confrontation (use with caution)

Avoid

  • Professional or formal settings
  • Around elders or authority figures
  • Job interviews, meetings, or customer-facing situations

Cultural Context

Particularly devastating when said by a parent to a child, which unfortunately does happen in Vietnamese households during extreme anger. The phrase implies that the person has no value to the family unit — and in Vietnamese culture, where family IS your identity, being declared worthless by your family is an existential blow. Among non-relatives, it's strong but not extraordinary.

More in Vietnamese 🇻🇳

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3 / 5homophobic, loanword

bê đê

[ɓe˧˧ ɗe˧˧]

fag / queer

Derived from the French word 'pédéraste'. It is the most ubiquitous term for a gay man or an effeminate male in Vietnam.

4 / 5action, sexual

xạo lồn

[sɐw˧˨ʔ lon˧˥]

bullshitting / talking out of your ass

Lying, boasting, or fabricating stories to look impressive. 'Xạo' means lying/fake; 'lồn' is added purely as an aggressive metric of magnitude.

5 / 5sexual, familial

địt mẹ mày

[ɗit˧˨ʔ me˧˨ʔ mɐi˨˩]

fuck your mother / motherfucker

The full Northern form with the target pronoun attached. If 'địt mẹ' is a grenade, adding 'mày' is pulling the pin and throwing it directly at someone's face. This isn't venting frustration — this is declaring war.

3 / 5internet, abbreviation

đm

[ɗe˧˥ em˧˥]

fuck / wtf

The texting abbreviation of 'đụ má.' Two letters that every Vietnamese person under 40 can decode instantly. It's become so ubiquitous in online spaces that it functions less as profanity and more as punctuation — surprise, frustration, emphasis, even approval.

4 / 5familial, exclamation

mẹ mày

[me˧˨ʔ mɐi˨˩]

your mother / fuck you

Just two words — 'your mother' — but in Vietnamese, this is a complete insult. You don't need to specify what about their mother. The implication hangs in the air, and everyone fills in the worst possible meaning. It's the loaded gun of Vietnamese profanity: the trigger is pulled by context.

5 / 5sexual, familial

địt mẹ

[ɗit˧˨ʔ me˧˨ʔ]

motherfucker / fuck your mother

Northern Vietnamese equivalent of 'đụ má.' Uses formal 'mẹ' instead of casual 'má,' making it more severe. The gravest insult in Vietnamese culture.

5 / 5anatomical, sexual

mặt lồn

[mat˧˨ʔ lon˧˥]

cunt-face / fuckface

Your face looks like female genitalia. It's as crude and direct as it sounds — a pure shock-value insult that combines the face (your public identity) with the most taboo body part. There's no subtlety here, just maximum offense per syllable.

2 / 5insult, moral

đồ mặt dày

[ɗo˨˩ mat˧˨ʔ zɐi˨˩]

shameless person / thick-skinned bastard

Your face is so thick that nothing — no embarrassment, no social pressure, no shame — can penetrate it. In a culture where 'mặt' (face) is everything, having a thick one means you've abandoned all social contracts.