Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Double-dealing / Duplicitous: Describes a person, especially a spy or agent, who is deceitfully loyal to two opposing sides, organizations, or causes at the same time.
   • Two-faced / Janus-faced: Characterizes someone who leads a double life or presents two different, contradictory identities or allegiances.

2. Noun (less common):

   • Double agent: Refers specifically to a spy who works for two rival intelligence agencies, typically by pretending loyalty to one while actually serving the other.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • Hắn là một điệp viên hai mang. (He is a double-dealing spy.)
  • Tôi không tin tưởng anh ta vì tính cách hai mang. (I don't trust him because of his two-faced nature.)

• Noun:

  • Kẻ hai mang đó đã bị bắt. (That double agent has been arrested.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is strongly associated with espionage and betrayal but can be extended metaphorically to any context involving profound deceit and dual, conflicting loyalties.
• "lối sống hai mang": a double life.
  • Anh ta sống một lối sống hai mang. (He lives a double life.)

Variants and Related Words

• Ăn ở hai lòng (idiomatic phrase): to be two-hearted, to be disloyal.
  • Kẻ ăn ở hai lòng không bao giờ được tin cậy. (A two-hearted person can never be trusted.)

Synonyms

• Duplicitous: Deceitful in action or character.
• Treacherous: Guilty of or involving betrayal.
• Perfidious: Faithless, disloyal (literary).

Related Idioms

• Một người hai mặt: A person with two faces (a hypocrite).
  • Cô ấy thực sự là một người hai mặt. (She is truly a two-faced person.)
• Đục nước béo cò: To fish in troubled waters (profiting from conflict, related to opportunistic dual allegiances).
  • Bọn chúng chỉ giỏi đục nước béo cò. (They are only good at fishing in troubled waters.)

1. Double
   • Gián điệp hai mang
     Double agennt