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): [sa̠ɾɯ̟ᵝ mo̞ kʲi ka̠ɾa̠ o̞t͡ɕiɾɯ̟ᵝ]
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
- Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- “猿も木から落ちる”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”) (in Japanese), concise edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000
- Shinmura, Izuru, editor (1998), 広辞苑 [Kōjien] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
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