饿了吃糠甜如蜜,不饿吃蜜也不甜 餓了吃糠甜如蜜,不餓吃蜜也不甜 餓了吃糠甜如蜜,不餓吃蜜也不甜

when hungry, chaff tastes sweet as honey; when not hungry, even honey isn't sweet

Saying俗语俗語

Proverb谚语諺語 · Widely known

Meaning
Need decides value: when you are in great need anything seems good, and when you are not even good things don't appeal. Close to 'hunger is the best sauce'.
Simplified
饿了吃糠甜如蜜,不饿吃蜜也不甜
Traditional (Taiwan)
餓了吃糠甜如蜜,不餓吃蜜也不甜
Pinyin
èle chī kāng tián rú mì, bú è chī mì yě bù tián
Bopomofo
ㄜˋ ˙ㄌㄜ ㄔ ㄎㄤ ㄊㄧㄢˊ ㄖㄨˊ ㄇㄧˋ,ㄅㄨˊ ㄜˋ ㄔ ㄇㄧˋ ㄧㄝˇ ㄅㄨˋ ㄊㄧㄢˊ

Written with HSK 5 vocabulary, at CEFR level B2.

Words in this sentence

Where this sentence is used

All Chinese example sentences