Japanese猫に小判 (Neko ni koban)
Meaning: Giving something valuable to someone who can't appreciate it.
Literally: A gold coin to a cat
Example: “高級ワインを彼にあげても猫に小判だ。” — Giving him fine wine is casting pearls before swine.
English equivalent: To cast pearls before swine
Equivalents in other languages
Hindi: बंदर क्या जाने अदरक का स्वाद (bandar kya jaane adrak ka svaad) Literally: What does a monkey know about the taste of ginger?
Arabic: اللي ما يعرف الصقر يشويه (illi ma yaʿrif al-ṣaqr yishwīh) Literally: He who doesn't know the falcon, grills it
Swedish: kasta pärlor för svin Literally: Cast pearls before swine
Russian: метать бисер перед свиньями (metat' biser pered svin'yami) Literally: To cast pearls before swine
English: cast pearls before swine
French: Donner de la confiture à un cochon Literally: To give jam to a pig
Origin: A koban was a genuine oval gold coin, the standard currency minted and issued by the Edo shogunate — a real, substantial sum of money to any person of the period, but obviously meaningless to a cat, which has no use whatsoever for currency of any kind. The earliest documented appearance is in the 1687 theatrical review Hyōbanki: Norigata Butai Ōkagami. One proposed explanation for why a cat specifically was chosen, rather than any other animal, points to the cat's own selective, often aloof temperament — an animal already known for showing little interest in anything that doesn't immediately capture its attention, making it an intuitive, almost redundant symbol for complete indifference to something valuable.
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: Proverbs
Short sayings of timeless wisdom from more than 50 cultures, each with its meaning and origin.
- 己の欲せざる所、人に施す勿れ (Onore no hossezaru tokoro, hito ni hodokosu nakare) Don't do to others what you wouldn't want done to you.
- 千丈の堤も蟻の一穴から (Senjō no tsutsumi mo ari no ikketsu kara) A small neglected flaw can bring down something great.
- 習うより慣れろ (Narau yori narero) You learn a skill by doing it, not by studying it.
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