Spanishestar más claro que el agua
Meaning: Something is obvious, evident, and beyond any doubt or confusion.
Literally: To be clearer than water
Example: “Está más claro que el agua: sin lluvia no habrá cosecha.” — It's clear as day: without rain there'll be no harvest.
English equivalent: Clear as day
Origin: Built on a plain, universal sensory comparison rather than any specific historical event: clean water is naturally transparent, letting the eye see straight through to the bottom with nothing obscuring the view, making it a ready-made image for anything equally easy to see through and understand. Because water was and remains one of the most familiar, everyday substances in any culture, it offered an intuitive standard for clarity that needed no specialized knowledge to appreciate — which likely explains why close equivalents to "clearer than water" appear independently across several Romance languages rather than spreading from one single source.
Equivalents in other languages
German: Klar wie Kloßbrühe Literally: Clear as dumpling broth
Italian: Non ci piove Literally: It doesn't rain on it
English: clear as day
More Spanish idioms
- tener un rabo de paja To feel guilty or anxious about something, fearing exposure of a personal fault or secret.
- Hablar por los codos To talk nonstop.
- Costar un ojo de la cara To be outrageously expensive.
- No hay tu tía There's no way around it; nothing can be done.
- Estar de Rodríguez To be a husband left working in town while the family is on holiday.
- Quedarse de piedra To be stunned speechless.
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