IdiomAnimals
Japanese
Japanese蛇足 (dassoku)
Meaning: Something completely unnecessary; a superfluous addition.
Literally: Snake legs
Example: “最後の一文は蛇足だから消したほうがいい。” — The last sentence is gilding the lily; better to cut it.
English equivalent: To gild the lily
Equivalents in other languages
Chinese: 画蛇添足 (huà shé tiān zú) Literally: Drawing legs on a snake
English: gild the lily
Origin: A shortening of the Chinese huà shé tiān zú (画蛇添足), from the Zhanguo Ce: servants racing to draw a snake for a cup of wine, one of whom finished first but lost by adding feet. Japanese kept only the "snake feet," for anything superfluous, and also uses it of an unnecessary remark added at the end.
More Japanese idioms
- 杞憂 (Kiyū) Unnecessary worry about things that won't happen; baseless anxiety.
- 傍若無人 (Bōjaku-bujin) Behaving without regard for others' feelings or presence around you.
- 一期一会 (Ichi-go ichi-e) Treasure each encounter as unique and irreplaceable in life.
- 四面楚歌 (Shimensoka) Being surrounded by enemies with no hope of escape or support.
- 鯖を読む (Saba o yomu) To fudge the numbers in your favor, especially your age.
- 油を売る (Abura ouru) To slack off or dawdle when you should be working.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- 隣の客はよく柿食う客だ (Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki kuu kyaku da) A tricky spiral on ka/ki/ku that accelerates as you try to keep the syllables distinct.
- なまむぎ なまごめ なまたまご (Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago) A nimble warm-up for the Japanese 'na / ma / ge' syllables.
- 東京特許許可局 (Tōkyō tokkyo kyokakyoku) A machine-gun of 'kyo' / 'kyoku' sounds.
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