Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Ăn không dám ăn, mặc không dám mặc

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Too poor to afford basic necessities

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

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Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: Eat not dare eat, wear not dare wear

Examples

Sau khi mất việc, anh ấy ăn không dám ăn, mặc không dám mặcAfter losing his job, he was too poor to afford basic necessities

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 không dám ăn, mặc không dám mặc” mean?

Too poor to afford basic necessities Literally: Eat not dare eat, wear not dare wear

Is “Ăn không dám ăn, mặc không dám mặc” formal or informal?

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

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