Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Mẹ sống bằng hai bàn tay, con ăn mày bằng hai đầu gối

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Parents work hard to raise their children, but the children become beggars

Literally: Mother lives by two hands, child eats by two knees

Examples

Tôi không hiểu tại sao anh ấy lại trở thành kẻ ăn mày, mẹ anh ấy đã phải vất vả lắm để nuôi anh ấy nên ngườiI don't understand why he became a beggar, his mother had to work so hard to raise him

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 “Mẹ sống bằng hai bàn tay, con ăn mày bằng hai đầu gối” mean?

Parents work hard to raise their children, but the children become beggars Literally: Mother lives by two hands, child eats by two knees

Is “Mẹ sống bằng hai bàn tay, con ăn mày bằng hai đầu gối” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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