Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Có đói gặm móng tay mà nhìn

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

So poor that one has to chew their fingernails

Literally: have hunger gnaw fingernails but look

Examples

Gia đình anh ấy quá nghèo, có đói gặm móng tay mà nhìn.His family was so poor, they were as hungry as if they had to gnaw their fingernails just by looking at food.

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 “Có đói gặm móng tay mà nhìn” mean?

So poor that one has to chew their fingernails Literally: have hunger gnaw fingernails but look

Is “Có đói gặm móng tay mà nhìn” formal or informal?

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

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