ngàn cân treo sợi tóc

== Vietnamese == === Alternative forms === (Northern Vietnam, rare) nghìn cân treo sợi tóc === Etymology === Probably a calque of Chinese 千鈞一髮 / 千钧一发 (thiên quán nhất phát); literally: “A thousand jun hangs from a strip of hair.” The variant with Northern nghìn for "thousand" is attested, but is much less common in contemporary Vietnamese. === Pronunciation === (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ŋaːn˨˩ kən˧˧ t͡ɕɛw˧˧ səːj˧˨ʔ tawk͡p̚˧˦] (Huế) IPA(key): [ŋaːŋ˦˩ kəŋ˧˧ ʈɛw˧˧ ʂəːj˨˩ʔ tawk͡p̚˦˧˥] ~ [ŋaːŋ˦˩ kəŋ˧˧ ʈɛw˧˧ səːj˨˩ʔ tawk͡p̚˦˧˥] (Saigon) IPA(key): [ŋaːŋ˨˩ kəŋ˧˧ ʈɛw˧˧ ʂəːj˨˩˨ tawk͡p̚˦˥] ~ [ŋaːŋ˨˩ kəŋ˧˧ ʈɛw˧˧ səːj˨˩˨ tawk͡p̚˦˥] === Idiom === ngàn cân treo sợi tóc precarious, on thin ice