ProverbCommunication
Latin origin
Latin originBarking dogs seldom bite
Meaning: People who make threats rarely carry them out.
Origin: The Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus wrote that a timid dog barks more fiercely than it bites — canis timidus vehementius latrat quam mordet. The English proverb is recorded from the 16th century, and the same idea survives in "his bark is worse than his bite."
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Italian, and 5 more languages
French: Chien qui aboie ne mord pas (literally: A dog that barks doesn't bite)
Spanish: Perro que ladra no muerde (literally: A dog that barks doesn't bite)
Japanese: 弱い犬ほどよく吠える (Yowai inu hodo yoku hoeru) (literally: The weaker the dog, the more it barks)
German: Hunde, die bellen, beißen nicht (literally: Dogs that bark do not bite)
Italian: Can che abbaia non morde (literally: A barking dog doesn't bite)
Portuguese: Cão que ladra não morde (literally: A barking dog doesn't bite)
Dutch: Blaffende honden bijten niet (literally: Barking dogs don't bite)
Russian: Не той собаки бойся, что громко лает, а той, что исподтишка хватает (Ne toy sobaki boysya, chto gromko laet, a toy, chto ispodtishka khvataet) (literally: Don't fear the dog that barks loudly, fear the one that bites on the sly)
Polish: Pies, który dużo szczeka, nie gryzie (literally: A dog that barks a lot doesn't bite)
Korean: 짖는 개는 물지 않는다 (Jinneun gaeneun mulji anneunda) (literally: A barking dog doesn't bite)
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- Red lorry, yellow lorry. The 'l/r' alternation drill — deceptively short, yet almost impossible to say fast withou…
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.
- The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. Believed by Guinness to be among the hardest in English — 'six/sick/sheikh/sheep' blur in…
Keep exploring