no ba ngày tết, đói ba tháng hè
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Spend all during a short prosperous period
Literally: full three days of Tet, hungry three months of summer
Where it’s used:
Used
Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora
Examples
Gia đình anh ấy đã no ba ngày tết, đói ba tháng hè sau khi nhận được tiền bồi thườngHis family spent all during the Tet holiday, and struggled to make ends meet for the next three months
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on Vietnamese Wikiquote “Thành ngữ Việt Nam” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “no ba ngày tết, đói ba tháng hè” mean?
Spend all during a short prosperous period Literally: full three days of Tet, hungry three months of summer
Is “no ba ngày tết, đói ba tháng hè” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.