Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Miệng đói thì đầu gối phải bò

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

When in need, one must be humble and willing to do menial tasks

Literally: Hungry mouth then knee must crawl

Examples

Khi mất việc, anh phải nhận công việc thấp hơn để养 gia đình, miệng đói thì đầu gối phải bòWhen he lost his job, he had to take a lower-paying job to support his family, mouth that's hungry then knee must crawl

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 “Miệng đói thì đầu gối phải bò” mean?

When in need, one must be humble and willing to do menial tasks Literally: Hungry mouth then knee must crawl

Is “Miệng đói thì đầu gối phải bò” formal or informal?

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

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