Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Đừng ham da trắng tóc dài, đến khi hết gạo chẳng mài mà ăn

🎙 Say it

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Don't be overly concerned with physical appearance

Literally: Don't covet white skin and long hair, when rice is gone, there's no mortar to eat from

Examples

Cô ấy quá chú trọng vào vẻ đẹp ngoại hình, nhưng rồi cũng nhận ra rằng Đừng ham da trắng tóc dài, đến khi hết gạo chẳng mài mà ănShe was too concerned with her physical appearance, but then realized that it's not everything, as the proverb says: Don't covet white skin and long hair, when rice is gone, there's no mortar to eat from

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 2026-08-09; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Đừng ham da trắng tóc dài, đến khi hết gạo chẳng mài mà ăn” mean?

Don't be overly concerned with physical appearance Literally: Don't covet white skin and long hair, when rice is gone, there's no mortar to eat from

Is “Đừng ham da trắng tóc dài, đến khi hết gạo chẳng mài mà ăn” formal or informal?

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

👁 Views 0 today 0 past 7 days 0 this month 0 all time