Tiếng Việt · Idiom Attested

được voi đòi tiên

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Given something great, to immediately demand something even greater — insatiable escalating demands.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

đòi hỏi ngày càng cao không biết đủ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: Given an elephant, they demand a fairy.

How to use it

✓ Use it when

Chiding greed or spoiled behavior, often of children or negotiators.

Where it’s used: Used Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora

Examples

Mới mua điện thoại đã đòi laptop — đúng là được voi đòi tiên.Just got a new phone and already demanding a laptop — given an elephant, asking for a fairy.

Editorial example (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Equivalents & related

Near equivalent give them an inch and they’ll take a mile If you make a small concession to some people, they will demand much more. English

Topics: Dragons & myth Elephants

Common questions

What does “được voi đòi tiên” mean?

Given something great, to immediately demand something even greater — insatiable escalating demands. Literally: Given an elephant, they demand a fairy.

Is “được voi đòi tiên” formal or informal?

được voi đòi tiên is generally informal; connotation: chiding.

What is the closest equivalent?

“give them an inch and they’ll take a mile” (English) — near equivalent.