Cố đấm ăn xôi, đám thì vô hồi, xôi chẳng được ăn
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
To take great pains for something, but ultimately fail to achieve it
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 2026-08-06; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Cố đấm ăn xôi, đám thì vô hồi, xôi chẳng được ăn” mean?
To take great pains for something, but ultimately fail to achieve it Literally: try to punch and eat sticky rice, but the fist is injured and the rice is not eaten
Is “Cố đấm ăn xôi, đám thì vô hồi, xôi chẳng được ăn” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.