throw the baby out with the bathwater
Meaning: To discard something valuable while getting rid of what is unwanted.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The plan has flaws, but scrapping it entirely would throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: A German proverb, das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten, first recorded in Thomas Murner's satire Narrenbeschwörung (1512). It reached English through Thomas Carlyle, who translated it in 1849.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Jeter le bébé avec l'eau du bain — literally: To throw the baby out with the bathwater
More idioms — Daily Life
- the pot calling the kettle black — Said when someone criticizes another person for a fault they have themselves.
- 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.
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.
- chase skirts — To pursue women constantly and flirtatiously.
- give someone an earful — To scold someone at length, or tell them angrily what one thinks.
From our compliments & insults
- У тебя золотые руки (u tebya zolotye ruki) — You're extraordinarily skilled — able to make or fix anything with your hands.
- T'as pas inventé le fil à couper le beurre — You're not exactly a genius — the wire to cut butter is about the most obvious tool imagi…
- Tête de mule — An impossibly stubborn person who refuses to change their mind no matter what.