Ăn hết bị đòn, ăn còn mất vợ

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

If you finish something, you'll be punished, and if you don't, you'll lose something precious

Literally: Eat all, receive a beating, eat some, lose a wife

Examples

Anh ấy ăn hết tiền tiết kiệm, thật là Ăn hết bị đòn, ăn còn mất vợHe spent all his savings, it's really a case of eat all and get punished, eat some and lose something precious

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 hết bị đòn, ăn còn mất vợ” mean?

If you finish something, you'll be punished, and if you don't, you'll lose something precious Literally: Eat all, receive a beating, eat some, lose a wife

Is “Ăn hết bị đòn, ăn còn mất vợ” formal or informal?

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

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