bite the hand that feeds one

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To act against the interests of someone who helps or supports you

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

hành động chống lại người giúp đỡ hoặc hỗ trợ mình

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to bite the hand that gives you food
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The employee was fired for biting the hand that feeds him by speaking out against the company

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

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); 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.

Equivalents & related

Common questions

What does “bite the hand that feeds one” mean?

To act against the interests of someone who helps or supports you Literally: to bite the hand that gives you food

Is “bite the hand that feeds one” formal or informal?

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

What is the closest equivalent?

“ăn cơm quốc gia, thờ ma cộng sản” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.