猿も木から落ちる
Japanese
| Kanji in this term | ||
|---|---|---|
| 猿 | 木 | 落 |
| さる Grade: S |
き Grade: 1 |
お Grade: 3 |
| kun'yomi | ||
| Alternative spelling |
|---|
| サルも木から落ちる (rare) |
Etymology
Phrase consisting of 猿 (saru, “monkey”) + も (mo, “even, also”) + 木 (ki, “tree”) + から (kara, “from”) + 落ちる (ochiru, “fall”).[1][2][3] Literally “even monkeys fall from trees”.
First cited to a text from 1638.[4]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [sa̠ɾɯ̟ mo̞ kʲi ka̠ɾa̠ o̞t͡ɕiɾɯ̟]
Proverb
猿も木から落ちる • (saru mo ki kara ochiru)
- [from 1638] even experts occasionally make mistakes: even Homer nods, a horse may stumble though he has four legs
Synonyms
- 弘法にも筆の誤り (kōbō ni mo fude no ayamari, “there are brush mistakes even with Kūkai [a master calligrapher]”)
- 上手の手から水が漏れる (jōzu no te kara mizu ga moreru, “water leaks [even] from skilled hands”)
- 河童の川流れ (kappa no kawanagare, “a water-imp's getting washed away by the river”)
See also
- 豚もおだてりゃ木に登る (buta mo odaterya ki ni noboru, “if surprised, even a pig will climb a tree”)
References
- ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (1995), 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- ^ “猿も木から落ちる”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten][1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
- Shinmura, Izuru, editor (1998), 広辞苑 [Kōjien] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN