he who laughs last laughs longest
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Final success or victory often belongs to the one who waits patiently
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Người kiên nhẫn thường đạt được thành công cuối cùng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a person laughing after others
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); 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 “he who laughs last laughs longest” mean?
Final success or victory often belongs to the one who waits patiently Literally: a person laughing after others
Is “he who laughs last laughs longest” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.