Con ăn thì còn, lãi ăn thì mất
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Children who eat will still be around, but interest that is spent is lost forever
Examples
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 2026-08-05; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Con ăn thì còn, lãi ăn thì mất” mean?
Children who eat will still be around, but interest that is spent is lost forever Literally: Children eat, still remain; interest eat, then lose
Is “Con ăn thì còn, lãi ăn thì mất” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.