khi kiến ăn cá, khi cá ăn kiến
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Now the ant eats the fish, now the fish eats the ant — fortunes rotate even between the great and the tiny.
Examples
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 “khi kiến ăn cá, khi cá ăn kiến” mean?
Now the ant eats the fish, now the fish eats the ant — fortunes rotate even between the great and the tiny. Literally: when ants eat fish, when fish eat ants
Is “khi kiến ăn cá, khi cá ăn kiến” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.