Cày cạn béo trâu, cày sâu tốt lúa
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Shallow work benefits the person doing it, but deeper work benefits others
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 “Cày cạn béo trâu, cày sâu tốt lúa” mean?
Shallow work benefits the person doing it, but deeper work benefits others Literally: plowing shallowly fattens the buffalo, plowing deeply yields good rice
Is “Cày cạn béo trâu, cày sâu tốt lúa” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.