Có tiền thì khôn như rái, không tiên thì dại như lư

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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 then clever like monkey, no money then stupid like buffalo

Examples

Anh ấy có tiền thì khôn như rái, không tiền thì dại như lưHe's clever when he has money, but foolish when he doesn't

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 thì khôn như rái, không tiên thì dại như lư” mean?

Having money makes one clever, but lacking it makes one foolish Literally: Having money then clever like monkey, no money then stupid like buffalo

Is “Có tiền thì khôn như rái, không tiên thì dại như lư” formal or informal?

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

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