Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Mất đầu cá vá đầu tôm

🎙 Say it

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To exchange one problem for another

Literally: lose fish head, add shrimp head

Examples

Anh ấy bỏ việc cũ để khởi nghiệp, mất đầu cá vá đầu tôm.He quit his old job to start a new business, but it was a case of losing the fish head to add the shrimp head.

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 2026-08-07; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Mất đầu cá vá đầu tôm” mean?

To exchange one problem for another Literally: lose fish head, add shrimp head

Is “Mất đầu cá vá đầu tôm” 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