làm kiếp trâu ăn cỏ, làm kiếp chó ăn dơ
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
One's life is determined by their circumstances
Literally: be a buffalo life eat grass, be a dog life eat filth
Examples
Tôi làm kiếp trâu ăn cỏ, không thể giàu đượcI am a buffalo eating grass, I can never be rich
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “làm kiếp trâu ăn cỏ, làm kiếp chó ăn dơ” mean?
One's life is determined by their circumstances Literally: be a buffalo life eat grass, be a dog life eat filth
Is “làm kiếp trâu ăn cỏ, làm kiếp chó ăn dơ” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.