ăn bát mẻ, nằm chiếu manh
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Live a poor and difficult life
Literally: eat from a broken bowl, sleep on a torn mat
Examples
Sau khi mất việc, anh ấy ăn bát mẻ, nằm chiếu manh.After losing his job, he lived a poor and difficult life.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “ăn bát mẻ, nằm chiếu manh” mean?
Live a poor and difficult life Literally: eat from a broken bowl, sleep on a torn mat
Is “ăn bát mẻ, nằm chiếu manh” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.