Đói thì ăn ngô, ăn khoai
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Make do with what is available
Literally: Hungry then eat corn, eat sweet potato
Where it’s used:
Used
Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora
Examples
Khi mất việc, tôi phải chấp nhận làm công việc khác dù lương thấp, đời thì ăn ngô, ăn khoai mà.When I lost my job, I had to accept another job with low pay, for when you're hungry, you eat what's available
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on Vietnamese Wikiquote “Ca dao Việt Nam” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Đói thì ăn ngô, ăn khoai” mean?
Make do with what is available Literally: Hungry then eat corn, eat sweet potato
Is “Đói thì ăn ngô, ăn khoai” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.