Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Ăn ha hả, trả ngùi ngùi

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Enjoy something now, but suffer later

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Thưởng thức hiện tại, nhưng khổ sau

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: Eat happily, pay sadly

Examples

Anh ấy ăn ha hả khi đi du lịch, nhưng trả ngùi ngùi khi thấy hóa đơnHe enjoyed his trip, but suffered when he saw the bill

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Headword listed in the vdict.com proverb dictionary index (discovery source; headword only — no source content copied). Entered as candidate 2026-08-05; definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-08; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Ăn ha hả, trả ngùi ngùi” mean?

Enjoy something now, but suffer later Literally: Eat happily, pay sadly

Is “Ăn ha hả, trả ngùi ngùi” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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