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 forms
- サルも木から落ちる (saru mo ki kara ochiru, 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”.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [sa̠ɾɯ̟ᵝ mo̞ kʲi ka̠ɾa̠ o̞t͡ɕiɾɯ̟ᵝ]
Proverb
猿も木から落ちる • (saru mo ki kara ochiru)
- even experts occasionally make mistakes: even Homer nods, a horse may stumble though he has four legs
Synonyms
- 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”)
- 弘法にも筆の誤り (kōbō ni mo fude no ayamari, “there are brush mistakes even with Kūkai [a master calligrapher]”)
See also
- 豚もおだてりゃ木に登る (buta mo odaterya ki ni noboru)
References
- 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
- 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- 1998, 広辞苑 (Kōjien), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
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