Ăn cỗ đi trước, lội nước theo sau
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Those who come first get the best
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
những người đến đầu tiên nhận được điều tốt nhất
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: Eat the feast first, wade the water later
Where it’s used:
Used
Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora
Examples
Ăn cỗ đi trước, lội nước theo sau.The early bird catches the worm.
Tatoeba sentence #4042287 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
Sources & notes
Listed on Vietnamese Wikiquote “Tục ngữ Việt Nam” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Ăn cỗ đi trước, lội nước theo sau” mean?
Those who come first get the best Literally: Eat the feast first, wade the water later
Is “Ăn cỗ đi trước, lội nước theo sau” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.