Có tiền khôn như con tép, không tiền dại như con đòng đòng

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Having money makes one clever, but lacking it makes one foolish

Literally: Having money clever like a shrimp, no money foolish like a dragonfly

Examples

Anh ấy có tiền khôn như con tép, không tiền dại như con đòng đòng nên luôn gặp rắc rốiHe is clever when he has money, but foolish when he doesn't, so he always gets into trouble

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 tiền khôn như con tép, không tiền dại như con đòng đòng” mean?

Having money makes one clever, but lacking it makes one foolish Literally: Having money clever like a shrimp, no money foolish like a dragonfly

Is “Có tiền khôn như con tép, không tiền dại như con đòng đòng” formal or informal?

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

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