Thầy mạnh, thầy chữa người ta, đến khi thầy ốm, thì ma chữa thầy
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
When someone is strong, they can help others, but when they are weak, they need help
khi mạnh có thể giúp người khác, nhưng khi yếu cần giúp đỡ
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Examples
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 “Thầy mạnh, thầy chữa người ta, đến khi thầy ốm, thì ma chữa thầy” mean?
When someone is strong, they can help others, but when they are weak, they need help Literally: The master cures people, when the master is ill, the devil cures the master
Is “Thầy mạnh, thầy chữa người ta, đến khi thầy ốm, thì ma chữa thầy” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.