once bitten, twice shy

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Proverb

once bitten, twice shy

One is cautious if one has been hurt in the past.

Synonyms

a burnt child dreads the fire, the burnt child dreads the fire
a beaten dog may cower before a friendly hand

Translations

one is cautious in the future if hurt in the past

Bengali: ঘর পোড়া গরু সিঁদুরে মেঘ দেখে ডরায় (bn) (ghor pōṛa goru śĩdure megh dekhe ḍoraẏ)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井繩／一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井绳 (zh) (yī zhāo bèi shé yǎo, shí nián pà jǐng shéng)
Danish: brændt barn skyr ilden
Dutch: door schade en schande wordt men wijs, een ezel stoot zich geen tweemaal aan dezelfde steen
Finnish: Siperia opettaa (literally “Siberia teaches”)
French: chat échaudé craint l'eau froide (fr) (literally “a scalded cat is afraid of cold water”)
German: ein gebranntes Kind scheut das Feuer
Greek: όποιος καεί με τον χυλό, φυσάει και το γιαούρτι (ópoios kaeí me ton chyló, fysáei kai to giaoúrti)
Hebrew: מִי שֶׁנִכְוָה בְּרוֹתְחִין נְזְהָר בְּצוֹנְנִין‎ (he) (mi shenichvá berotḥín nizhár betzonenín)
Hindi: दूध का जला छाँछ भी फूँक कर पीता है (dūdh kā jalā chā̃ch bhī phū̃k kar pītā hai)
Icelandic: (a child burnt shuns the fire) brennt barn forðast eldinn (is)
Italian: gatto scottato teme l'acqua fredda
Japanese: 羮に懲りて膾を吹く (ja) (あつものにこりてなますをふく, atsumono ni korite namasu o fuku)
Macedonian: кога ќе се изгори од млекото, ќе дува и на маштеницата (koga ḱe se izgori od mlekoto, ḱe duva i na maštenicata)
Norwegian: brent barn skyr ilden
Polish: kto się na gorącym sparzył, ten na zimne dmucha (pl)
Portuguese: gato escaldado de água fria tem medo
Romanian: cine s-a fript cu ciorbă, suflă și-n iaurt (literally “he who burnt himself [once] with hot soup will [then] blow air [even] on yogurt”)
Russian: обжёгшись на молоке́, бу́дешь дуть и на во́ду (obžógšisʹ na moloké, búdešʹ dutʹ i na vódu, literally “having been burnt by milk, you'll blow onto water”), пу́ганая воро́на куста́ бои́тся (púganaja voróna kustá boítsja, literally “a frightened crow is afraid even of the bush”)
Serbo-Croatian: tko se jednom opeče, puše i na hladno
Spanish: gato escaldado del agua fría huye (es)
Turkish: sütten ağzı yanan, yoğurdu üfleyerek yer

References

Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, →ISBN, p. 261.

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