đói đầu gối hay bò
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Hunger teaches the knees to crawl — necessity is the body's own instructor.
Literally: hungry, the knees learn to crawl
Examples
Đói đầu gối hay bò, túng thì phải tính.Hunger teaches knees to crawl — want invents its way.
Editorial example (VI sweep batch 040, illustrative)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Tục ngữ, cổ ngữ, gia ngôn (Huỳnh Tịnh Của, 1897; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Tục ngữ, cổ ngữ, gia ngôn (Huỳnh Tịnh Của, 1897). Definition is an original editorial synthesis, not copied from the source.
Common questions
What does “đói đầu gối hay bò” mean?
Hunger teaches the knees to crawl — necessity is the body's own instructor. Literally: hungry, the knees learn to crawl
Is “đói đầu gối hay bò” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.