Còn tiền trông như tiên, hết tiền trông như cú

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

When you have money, you are respected, but when you don't, you are despised

Literally: Having money looks like a fairy, lacking money looks like an owl

Examples

Anh ấy trước giàu có, nhưng giờ hết tiền trông như cú.He used to be rich, but now that he's out of money, he looks like an owl.

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 “Còn tiền trông như tiên, hết tiền trông như cú” mean?

When you have money, you are respected, but when you don't, you are despised Literally: Having money looks like a fairy, lacking money looks like an owl

Is “Còn tiền trông như tiên, hết tiền trông như cú” formal or informal?

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

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