A scalded cat fears cold water.
Meaning: Past trauma causes excessive caution even toward harmless situations resembling the original threat.
Origin: A cat once burned by hot water shies away from water of any kind. The saying is best known in French, chat échaudé craint l'eau froide, and has close relatives in Spanish and Portuguese. It describes caution grown out of proportion after a bad experience.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, and German
- French: Chat échaudé craint l’eau froide (literally: A scalded cat dreads cold water)
- Spanish: Gato escaldado del agua fria ha miedo (literally: The scalded cat dreads cold water)
- Japanese: 羹に懲りて膾を吹く (Atamonokakuni korite namasuwo fuku) (literally: Having been burned by hot soup, one blows on cold fish salad)
- German: Gebranntes Kind scheut das Feuer (literally: A burnt child shuns the fire)
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From our idioms
- feel the pinch — To have less money than one used to have, and less than one feels is necessary.
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