Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Ong làm mật không được ăn, yến làm tổ không được ở

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

One's efforts do not always benefit oneself

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Công sức không phải lúc nào cũng mang lại lợi ích cho bản thân

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: Bees make honey but don't get to eat it, swallows build nests but don't get to live in them

Examples

Tôi đã cống hiến cả đời cho công ty, nhưng khi về hưu, tôi không được đối xử công bằng, ong làm mật không được ăn màI dedicated my whole life to the company, but when I retired, I wasn't treated fairly, it's like the bees making honey but not getting to eat it

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 “Ong làm mật không được ăn, yến làm tổ không được ở” mean?

One's efforts do not always benefit oneself Literally: Bees make honey but don't get to eat it, swallows build nests but don't get to live in them

Is “Ong làm mật không được ăn, yến làm tổ không được ở” formal or informal?

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

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