Đánh nước đau đến cá, mắng chó đau đến chủ
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Harming someone indirectly affects others related to them
Literally: Beating water hurts the fish, scolding a dog hurts its owner
Examples
Khi công ty bị phạt, cả nhân viên đều bị ảnh hưởngWhen the company was fined, all employees were affected
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 2026-08-08; pending editor spot-check.
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Common questions
What does “Đánh nước đau đến cá, mắng chó đau đến chủ” mean?
Harming someone indirectly affects others related to them Literally: Beating water hurts the fish, scolding a dog hurts its owner
Is “Đánh nước đau đến cá, mắng chó đau đến chủ” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
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