Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Ăn thì có, mó thì không

🎙 Say it

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Having something when needed, but not when wanted

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Có khi cần, nhưng không khi muốn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: Eat then have, want then not have

Examples

Tôi có tiền khi không cần, ăn thì có, mó thì khôngI have money when I don't need it, it's a case of ăn thì có, mó thì không

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 thì có, mó thì không” mean?

Having something when needed, but not when wanted Literally: Eat then have, want then not have

Is “Ăn thì có, mó thì không” formal or informal?

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

👁 Views 0 today 0 past 7 days 0 this month 0 all time