Pot calling the kettle black

A pot blackened from use over open fires

The phrase "The pot calling the kettle black" is an idiom used to accuse a person guilty of the very thing of which they are accused. This may or may not be hypocritical or a contradiction.

Alternative interpretation

As generally understood, the person accusing is understood to share some quality with the target of their accusation. An alternative interpretation, recognised by some, but not all, sources is that the pot is sooty (being placed on a fire), while the kettle is clean and shiny (being placed on coals only), and hence when the pot accuses the kettle of being black, it is the pot’s own sooty reflection that it sees: the pot accuses the kettle of a fault that only the pot has, rather than one that they share. See also projection.

Similar phrases

• In Ancient Greece mention of The Snake and the Crab signified much the same idiom. The first instance of this is in a drinking song (scholium) dating from the late 6th or early 5th century BCE. The fable ascribed to Aesop under this name makes the crab an honest actor who kills the snake for the common good. In another, however, concerning a mother crab and its young, the mother tells the child to walk straight and is asked in return to demonstrate how that is done.
• A similar story occurs in the Aramaic version of the story of Ahiqar, dating from about 500 BCE. 'The bramble sent to the pomegranate tree saying, "Wherefore the multitude of thy thorns to him that toucheth thy fruit?" The pomegranate tree answered and said to the bramble, "Thou art all thorns to him that toucheth thee".
• In the Gospel of Matthew 7:3, Jesus is quoted as saying, during the discourse on judgmentalism in the Sermon on the Mount, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Many scholars have interpreted this as a proscription against personal attacks in general, not just particulars.
• In the Gospel of John 7:53-8:11, describes the famous passage about Jesus and the woman taken in adultery, a confrontation between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees over whether a woman, caught in an act of adultery, ought to be stoned. Jesus shames the crowd into dispersing, and averts the execution. The English idiomatic phrase to "cast the first stone" is derived from this passage.
• A widespread European proverb (see below) whose English equivalent is 'those that live in glass houses should not throw stones' also counsels caution from being judgmental. It appears in the work of Geoffrey Chaucer as 'One who has a glass head should beware of stones' (Troilus and Criseyde II/867-8) and in George Herbert's Outlandish Proverbs (1640) as 'Whose house is of glasse, must not throw stones at another' (#196).

Similar idioms in other languages

• Arabic: "الجمل لا يرى عوجة رقبته" ("The camel cannot see the crookedness of its own neck")
• Arabic:"ان كان بيتك من زجاج فلا ترم الناس بالحجارة" ("If your house is of glass, don't throw rocks at others").
• Assamese: Hkhaale Hkhingik haanhe ("The Shaal fish laughs at the Shingifish")
• Azeri: Kor kora kor deməsə bağrı çartlayar. ("If a blind man doesn't point out the other blind man that he's blind, he'll die")
• Basque: Xoxoak beleari: Ipurbeltz!. "The blackbird to the crow: Black tail!"
• Bengali: Chaluni bole chhuch re tor Pichhe kano Chheda!. "The Sieve tells the needle to mind the hole in its back!"
• Bulgarian: Присмял се хърбел на щърбел! ("The starving are laughing at the toothless!")
• Burmese: "The Son is one month older than the father"
• Hindi: "उल्टा चोर कोतवाल को डांटे" Ulta Chor Kotwal ko daante ("The thief [accused] yells at the police instead!")
• Indonesian: Maling teriak rampok ("The thief shouting robber")
• Czech: Konvice nazývá kotlík černým ("The pot called the kettle black") Hrnec hrnci káže, oba černí jako saze – Čelakovský ("Pot preaches to pot, both as black as soot.")
• Chinese: 五十步笑百步- ("[Those who have retreated] 50 steps laugh at [those who retreated] 100 steps.")
  • Chinese: 雞看不見雞背脊- ("A chicken can't see its own back.")
  • Chinese: 烏鴉笑豬黑，自己不覺得-Sichuan idiom ("The crow mocks the blackness of the pig, ignoring its own [blackness]")
  • Chinese: 龜笑鱉無尾-Zhangzhou (in Fujian) idiom ("The turtle makes fun of the trionychidaes that they are of short tails.")
• Croatian: Rugala se sova sjenici da ima velike oči ("The owl mocked the tit for having large eyes")
• Danish: Man skal ikke kaste med sten hvis man selv bor i et glashus ("You shouldn't throw rocks if you live in a house of glass")
• Dutch: De pot verwijt de ketel dat hij zwart ziet ("The pot reproaches the kettle for looking black")
• Estonian: Pada sõimab katelt, ühed mustad mõlemad ("The pot reproaches the kettle – but they are both black")
• Persian: دیگ به دیگ می گه روت سیاه ("The pot calls the kettle black")
• Finnish: Pata kattilaa soimaa – musta kylki kummallakin ("The pot reproaches the kettle – black [is] the side of each")
• French: C'est l'hôpital qui se moque de la charité ("The hospital that laughs at charity"), La pelle se moque du fourgon ("The shovel mocks the poker")
• German: Du sollst zuerst vor der eigenen Tür kehren ("Sweep first in front of your own door")
  • German: Ein Esel schimpft den anderen Langohr ("One donkey calls the other one longears")
  • German: Sich an die eigene Nase fassen ("To touch one's own nose first")
  • German: Wer im Glashaus sitzt, soll nicht mit Steinen werfen ("Who sits in the glass house, shouldn't throw stones")
• Greek: Ipe o gaidaros ton petino kefala ("The donkey said to the rooster "Your head is too big"")
• Hebrew: כל הפוסל במומו פוסל‎ Kol HaPossel, B'mumo Possel ("All who disqualify [another due to a fault], disqualifies him due to his own fault")
• Hungarian: Bagoly mondja verébnek, hogy nagy a feje or the short form Bagoly mondja verébnek ("The owl says the sparrow has a large head")
• Irish: Sin an túlán ag tabhairt tóin dubh ar an phota! ("That is the pot calling the kettle black!")
• Italian: Il bue che dà del cornuto all'asino ("The ox calling the donkey horned"), Cencio che dice mal di straccio ("A rag speaking ill of a cloth")
• Japanese: "目糞鼻糞" from "目糞が鼻糞を笑う ("Eye wax and snot" shortened from "Eye wax laughing at the snot"), Sanabo.com
• Korean: "똥 묻은 개가 겨 묻은 개 나무란다" ("The dung-stained dog reproaches the chaff-stained dog."), Naver or "겨 묻은 개가 똥 묻은 개를 흉본다" ("The chaff-stained dog disparages the dung-stained dog."), Naver
• Lao: ພາສາລາວມີຄວາມໝາຍວ່າ "ນົກເຄົ້າ ທ້ວງຕາແມ່".
• Lithuanian: "Juokiasi puodas, kad katilas juodas" ("The pot laughing at a black kettle"), Patarles.lt
• Malay: "Menepuk air di dulang, terpercik muka sendiri" (Tap water in the pan, splashing his own face)
• Malay: "Bagai meludah ke langit" (Like Spit into the sky)
• Norwegian: Å kaste sten i glasshus ("To throw stones in a glass house")
• Persian: دیگ به دیگ میگه روت سیاه ("The pot tells the other pot your face is black"), Tebyan
• Polish: Przyganiał kocioł garnkowi, a sam smoli ("The cauldron was reprimanding the pot and it soots itself"), often contracted to Przyganiał kocioł garnkowi ("The cauldron was reprimanding the pot")
• Punjabi: ਆਪ ਕਿਸੇ ਜਹੀ ਨਾ, ਨਕ ਚੜਾਨੋ ਰਹੀ ਨਾ ("You are yourself good for nothing, and still trying to ridicule others")^{[citation needed]}
• Portuguese: Olha pra teu nariz ("Look at your nose," implying they also have dirt on their nose.),
  • Portuguese: O sujo falando do mal lavado ("The dirty is talking about the half clean"),
  • Portuguese: O porco falando do toucinho (The pig talking about the bacon),
  • Portuguese: Quem tem telhados de vidro não atira pedras (People with glass roofs don't throw stones)
  • Portuguese: Diz o roto ao nu (The one with shabby/torn clothes says to the naked man)
• Romanian: Râde ciob de oală spartă ("Potsherd laughs at the cracked pot")
• Russian: В чужом глазу соломину видеть, в своём—бревна не замечать ("To see a little straw in other's eye, and not to notice a log in his own"; this is Matthew 7:3); Russian: Чья бы корова мычала, а твоя бы молчала! ("Maybe others' cows could moo, but not yours!", "Look who's talking!")
• Serbian: Rugala se šerpa loncu, a i ona garava ("The casserole laughs at the pot, and they are both sooty")
• Sinhalese: තමුන්ගේ ඇසේ තිබෙන පොල් පරාලය ගැන නොසොයා, අනුන්ගේ ඇසේ පොල් කෙන්ද ගැන සෙවීම ("Talking about string in someone's eye before looking at rafter in his/her eye")
• Slovak: Trafena hus zagagala. (The goose that is hit is the one to honk.)
• Slovene: Najprej moraš počistiti pred svojim pragom. (Clean before your own doorstep first.)
• Swedish: Kasta inte sten i glashus ("Don't throw stones in glass houses"), Sopa rent framför din egen dörr [först] ("Sweep [first] clean in front of your own door")
• Spanish: Apártate que me tiznas, dijo la sartén al cazo ("Move away, you are blackening me, said the pan to the pot") El burro hablando de orejas ("The donkey talking about ears")
  • México: El comál le dijo a la olla ("The grill said to the pot")
  • Venezuela: Cachicamo diciéndole a morrocoy conchúo ("An armadillo telling a turtle it is too hard shelled")
  • Colombia: El que tiene rabo de paja, que no se arrime a la candela ("if you have a tail made of straw, you'd better stay away from the fire").
  • Costa Rica: Miren al diablo repartiendo escapularios ("Look at the devil handing out scapulars").
  • Argentina: El muerto se ríe del degollado ("The dead guy laughs at the one with the throat slit")
• Thai: ว่าแต่เขา อิเหนาเป็นเอง (wâa dtàe kăo ì-năo bpen eng) ("[Enau] accuses others, but he himself is guilty") thai-language.com, look up อิเหนา
• Turkish: "Tencere! Dibin kara." "Seninki benimkinden de kara". ((One pot saying to another) "Pot, your bottom is black." – (other pot replying back) "Yours is blacker than mine!")
• Urdu: الٹا چور کوتوال کو ڈانٹے ("The thief scolding the magistrate in reverse")
• Vietnamese: Chó chê mèo lắm lông ("Dog ridicules cat for being hairy")
• Welsh: Sbia adra ("Look at home")
• Wolof: Bala ngaa fajaan, jëkka wér. ("Before you heal someone, be in good health yourself")

Uses

• Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote — "said the frying-pan to the kettle, get away, blackbreech"
• Henry Fielding in Covent Garden Journal — "Dares thus the kettle to rebuke our sin!/Dares thus the kettle say the pot is black!"
• William Penn in Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims — "For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality... is for the Pot to call the Kettle black."
• Francisco Gabilondo Soler "Cricri" wrote El comál y la olla — a song that tells a fable in which a (male) grill and a (female) pot keep criticizing each other.

See also

• Tu quoque
• Psychological projection

Law / juristic context

• Equitable remedy
• Equity (law)
• Unclean hands