Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Tham con cá diếc, tiếc con cá mè

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Regretting what you already have while pursuing something better

Literally: Longing for the diếc fish, regretting the mè fish

Examples

Anh ấy tham con cá diếc, tiếc con cá mè nên cuối cùng không có gìHe longed for the diếc fish and regretted the mè fish, so in the end he had nothing

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 2026-08-08; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Tham con cá diếc, tiếc con cá mè” mean?

Regretting what you already have while pursuing something better Literally: Longing for the diếc fish, regretting the mè fish

Is “Tham con cá diếc, tiếc con cá mè” formal or informal?

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

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