English · Proverb Candidate

you can't have your cake and eat it too

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

You cannot enjoy two things that are mutually exclusive

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Không thể tận hưởng hai điều trái ngược cùng lúc

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: eating cake after having it

Examples

She can't quit her job and still expect to get paid, you can't have your cake and eat it too

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Topics: Food

Common questions

What does “you can't have your cake and eat it too” mean?

You cannot enjoy two things that are mutually exclusive Literally: eating cake after having it

Is “you can't have your cake and eat it too” formal or informal?

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

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