Cá chẳng ăn muối cá thối, người chẳng ăn nhời người hư
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
If you don't discipline someone, they will become corrupted
Examples
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 2026-08-05; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Cá chẳng ăn muối cá thối, người chẳng ăn nhời người hư” mean?
If you don't discipline someone, they will become corrupted Literally: Fish not eating salt, fish rot, person not listening to advice, person becomes bad
Is “Cá chẳng ăn muối cá thối, người chẳng ăn nhời người hư” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.