con ăn một, mẹ ăn hai
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A child's mistake affects the parent more
Literally: child eats one, mother eats two
Examples
Khi con bị phê bình, mẹ cũng phải chịu khổ vì con ăn một, mẹ ăn hai.When the child is criticized, the mother also suffers because con ăn một, mẹ ăn hai.
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 “con ăn một, mẹ ăn hai” mean?
A child's mistake affects the parent more Literally: child eats one, mother eats two
Is “con ăn một, mẹ ăn hai” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.