cơm tận miệng chẳng ăn
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To have something within reach but fail to take advantage of it
Literally: rice at the mouth doesn't eat
Examples
Cô ấy đã có cơ hội việc làm tốt nhưng cô không nắm bắt, cơm tận miệng chẳng ăn.She had a good job opportunity but she didn't seize it, a case of having food at her mouth but not eating.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “cơm tận miệng chẳng ăn” mean?
To have something within reach but fail to take advantage of it Literally: rice at the mouth doesn't eat
Is “cơm tận miệng chẳng ăn” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.