IdiomAnimals
Russian
RussianКот наплакал (Kot naplakal)
Meaning: A laughably tiny amount.
Literally: As much as the cat wept
Example: “Денег после отпуска осталось кот наплакал.” — The money left after the holiday was a drop in the bucket.
English equivalent: A drop in the bucket
Equivalents in other languages
Japanese: 雀の涙 (suzume no namida) Literally: Sparrow's tears
Hindi: ऊँट के मुँह में जीरा (Ūṅṭ ke muṅh meṅ jīrā) Literally: A cumin seed in a camel's mouth
English: drop in the bucket
Origin: Cats do not shed tears, so the amount a cat has cried is next to nothing. Fedorov's and other phrase dictionaries quote the phrase from 20th-century writers such as Zoshchenko and Aleksey Tolstoy, but Russian Wiktionary marks its origin as unknown, and no source documents a first use or a story behind it.
More Russian idioms
- Зарубить на носу (Zarubit' na nosu) To remember something firmly, once and for all.
- Водить за нос (Vodit' za nos) To deceive or string someone along.
- Бить баклуши (Bit' baklushi) To loaf about doing nothing.
- Остаться с носом (Ostat'sya s nosom) To be left empty-handed or outwitted.
- Как сельдь в бочке (Kak sel'd' v bochke) Packed together very tightly.
- Делать ноги (Delat' nogi) To run away quickly.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- Корабли лавировали, лавировали, да не вылавировали. (Korabli lavirovali, lavirovali, da ne vylavirovali.) One verb, three inflections, pure 'lav/vir' torture — the word grows with every repetitio…
- Ехал Грека через реку, видит Грека — в реке рак. (Yekhal Greka cherez reku, vidit Greka — v reke rak.) A rolling 'r/k' drill where Greka, reku and rak keep trading the same two consonants.
- От топота копыт пыль по полю летит. (Ot topota kopyt pyl po polyu letit.) A 'p/t' hammering that imitates the hoofbeats it describes.
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