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اللي على راسه بطحة بيحسس عليها (illi ʿala rasu baṭḥa byiḥassis ʿalayha)

Meaning: The guilty person gives himself away.

Language: Arabic

Literally: He who has a bump on his head keeps touching it

Category: Body & Senses

Origin: An Egyptian image: someone nursing a hidden wound keeps anxiously feeling for it, betraying exactly what he hoped to hide.

More idioms — Body & Senses

  • Avoir le bras long — To have influence and useful connections.
  • Avoir le cœur sur la main — To be very generous and giving.
  • To cost an arm and a leg — To be extremely expensive.
  • Tener más cara que espalda — To be utterly shameless and brazen.
  • Non avere peli sulla lingua — To speak bluntly and hold nothing back.
  • Avere le mani bucate — To be a spendthrift.

More Arabic idioms

  • الحبل على الكذب قصير (al-ḥabl ʿalā al-kadhib qaṣīr) — Lies never last; they are soon exposed.
  • يد واحدة لا تصفق (yad wāḥida lā tuṣaffiqu) — Nothing is achieved without cooperation.
  • الجمل ما يشوف عوجة رقبته (Al-jamal mā yshūf 'awjat raqabatuh) — People are blind to their own faults.
  • تمخض الجبل فولد فأرا (tamakhaḍa al-jabalu fa-walada fa'ran) — A huge fuss producing a tiny result.
  • يضرب في حديد بارد (yadrib fi hadid barid) — To waste effort on a hopeless task.
  • القرد بعين أمه غزال (al-qird bi-ʿayn ummihi ghazāl) — Parents see their children as beautiful no matter what.

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