the pot calling the kettle black
Meaning: Said when someone criticizes another person for a fault they have themselves.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “Marcus called me lazy while lying on the couch at noon. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: An early English form appears in Thomas Shelton's 1620 translation of Don Quixote, where the frying pan scolds the kettle for being black. William Penn used the pot-and-kettle version in Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Both vessels were blackened by the open fire.
Equivalents in other languages
- Arabic: الجمل ما يشوف عوجة رقبته (Al-jamal mā yshūf 'awjat raqabatuh) — literally: The camel can't see the bend in its own neck
- French: C'est l'hôpital qui se fout de la charité — literally: It's the hospital making fun of the charity ward
- Spanish: cachicamo diciéndole a morrocoy conchudo — literally: armadillo telling tortoise shell-backed
- German: ein Esel schimpft den andern Langohr — literally: one donkey scolds the other long-ear
- Portuguese: sujo falando do mal lavado — literally: dirty speaking of the badly washed
- French: La paille et la poutre — literally: The straw and the beam
More idioms — Daily Life
- keep one's cards close to one's chest — To keep one's plans or intentions secret.
- be all the rage — To be extremely fashionable or popular for a time.
- avoid like the plague — To stay as far away as possible from someone or something.
- lay it on thick — To exaggerate, especially praise or flattery, far too much.
- stake one's life on it — To be absolutely certain that something is true.
- chase skirts — To pursue women constantly and flirtatiously.
More English idioms
- not sleep a wink — To not sleep at all.
- work oneself into a lather — To become very agitated, anxious or angry.
- welcome with open arms — To greet or accept someone with great warmth and enthusiasm.
- count on the fingers of one hand — To be very few in number, five or fewer.
- give someone an earful — To scold someone at length, or tell them angrily what one thinks.
- not know which way to turn — To be so overwhelmed or confused that one does not know what to do.