Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Sống chẳng cho ăn, chết đọc văn tế ruồi

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Useless when alive, only remembered after death

Literally: Live doesn't give food, die reads funeral oration for flies

Examples

Người đó suốt đời không làm gì có ích, mà khi chết đi thì nhiều người khen ngợiThat person did nothing useful in his life, but when he died, many people praised 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 “Sống chẳng cho ăn, chết đọc văn tế ruồi” mean?

Useless when alive, only remembered after death Literally: Live doesn't give food, die reads funeral oration for flies

Is “Sống chẳng cho ăn, chết đọc văn tế ruồi” formal or informal?

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

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