In Vietnamese Dictionary by Hoàng Phê, “éo le” means “tottery, unstable”. Nowadays, “éo le” also means challenging and unfortunate and it is used to describe one’s life or circumstances.
E.g.
– Lan có hoàn cảnh éo le. (Lan is in an unfortunate situation.)
– Chuyện tình cảm éo le. (Challenging love)
*Source: varied
