Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Thằng đen lưng làm, thằng trắng lưng ăn

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Those who work hard are often exploited by others

Literally: Black back works, white back eats

Examples

Người giàu thường sống nhờ sức lao động của người nghèo, thằng đen lưng làm, thằng trắng lưng ănThe rich often live off the labor of the poor, the one with the black back works, the one with the white back eats

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 “Thằng đen lưng làm, thằng trắng lưng ăn” mean?

Those who work hard are often exploited by others Literally: Black back works, white back eats

Is “Thằng đen lưng làm, thằng trắng lưng ăn” formal or informal?

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

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