thương gậm xương chả được
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Gaining nothing from a difficult situation
Literally: chew on bones but get no meat
Examples
Anh ấy đã cố gắng hết sức nhưng thương gậm xương chả đượcHe tried his best but gained nothing
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “thương gậm xương chả được” mean?
Gaining nothing from a difficult situation Literally: chew on bones but get no meat
Is “thương gậm xương chả được” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.