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Learning Japanese? Speak like a native with these 69 wonderful Japanese idioms translated into English.

Feeling stressed? The Japanese have an idiom for that, It is easier to give nascence than to worry well-nigh it. (案ずるより産むが易し。)Demand wellness communication? Eight-tenths full keeps the dr. away. (腹八分に医者いらず (はらはちぶにいしゃいらず). Made a error? Don't worry, Even monkeys fall from trees (猿も木から落ちる。 )

From Japanese proverbs to idioms and wonderful idiomatic expressions, take this list of inspiring words of wisdom into your day. And think, 一期一会 (いちごいちえ)  Nosotros only alive one time, and then cherish every moment!

Here some common Japnese idioms, their literal translations, meanings, and English equivalents.

1. 自業自得 – Jigou jitoku

Literal translation: One's act, one's profit.
Meaning: This Japanese idiom means that eventually, you lot will face the consequences of your actions.
English equivalent: What goes effectually, comes around. You lot reap what you sow. You become what yous give. Getting one's only desserts. Reap what you sow.

two. 十人十色 (じゅうにんといろ)

Literal translation: Ten men, ten colours
Pregnant: People have different tastes and preferences and are free to like different things
English language equivalent: To each his own. Different strokes for different folks.

3. 起死回生 (きしかいせい) – Kishikaisei

Literal translation: Wake from death and return to life. Resuscitation.
Meaning: To turn a negative situation into a positive one.
English equivalent: When life gives you lot lemons, make lemonade. Make the best of a bad situation.  Every cloud has a argent lining.

four. 我田引水

Literal translation: Drawing water to one's own rice paddy fields.
Significant: To do or say something for your own benefit.
English equivalent: Take advantage of.

5. 悪因悪果

Literal translation: Evil cause, evil effect.
Meaning: Similar to 自業自得 that "you volition reap what y'all sow." This Japanese maxim suggests a karmic intervention.
English equivalent: You get what you deserve.

6. 見ぬが花

Literal translation: Not seeing is a blossom.
Meaning: Things ofttimes look more beautiful in your imagination than in reality. In Japan, flowers are used to stand for imagination, beauty, and oftentimes politeness.
English equivalent: Reality tin can't compete with the imagination. Prospect is often better than possession.

7. 弱肉強食

Literal translation: The weak are meat; the stiff eat.
Meaning: The most able or fit are the ones who survive.
English equivalent: Survival of the fittest. Law of the jungle.

eight. 海千山千

Literal translation: Sea 1000, mountain thousand.
Pregnant: Someone who'due south had a lot of experience and tin handle any state of affairs. They are unremarkably exceptionally clever, cunning, or shrewd, especially in devious or underhanded ways.
English equivalent: A sly old pull a fast one on. Sly erstwhile canis familiaris. Onetime pull a fast one on.

ix. 酔生夢死

Literal translation: Drunken life, dreamy decease.
Meaning: To spend all your fourth dimension daydreaming without accomplishing anything.
English equivalent: To have your head in the clouds.

10. 一期一会 (いちごいちえ)

Literal translation: 1 life, one come across.
Significant: This Japanese saying ways that each and every moment is a once-in-a-lifetime encounter that should be cherished considering you lot'll just experience it once.
English equivalent: Seize the twenty-four hours. You merely live one time.

eleven. 異体同心 (いたいどうしん)

Literal translation: Different body, same listen. Ii bodies, one eye.
Meaning: Refers to like-minded people who share similar interest and/ or behavior.
English equivalent: Blood brother from another mother. Kindred spirits. Soul mates.

12. 羊頭狗肉

Literal translation: Sheep caput, dog meat.
Pregnant: When something has been misrepresented on purpose.
English equivalent: Crying wine and selling vinegar. False advertising.

13. 会者定離

Literal translation: People meet, ever part.
Meaning: This idea comes from Buddhism, that every human being human relationship will end someday due to the transient nature of life.
English equivalent: Those who meet must part. All skillful things must end.

14. 美人薄命

Literal translation: Beautiful person, thin life.
Significant: This Japanese idiom expresses the thought that beauty and long life seldom go together.
English language equivalent: Beauty fades.

xv. 負けるが勝ち – Makeru ga kachi

Literal translation: To lose ways to win.
Meaning: The idea that sometimes it'due south all-time not to engage in gainsay or conflict and to relieve your energy for more of import things.
English equivalent: Amend to curve than interruption. Hold to disagree. Live to fight another day.

16. 虎穴に入らずんば虎子を得ず。

Literal translation: If y'all exercise not enter the tiger'due south cave, you won't grab its cub.
Pregnant: You lot won't reach anything unless you take risks.
English equivalent: Null ventured, nothing gained. Fortune favours the assuming.

17. 猿も木から落ちる。- Saru mo ki kara ochiru

Literal translation: Even monkeys fall from trees.
Pregnant: This Japanese idiom means that we all make mistakes only that's no big deal. It's just life's way of teaching united states a lesson that we learn from.
English equivalent: Anybody makes mistakes.

18. 蓼食う虫も好き好き

Literal translation: There are even bugs that eat knotweed.
Pregnant: The idea that unlike people like dissimilar things, which you don't necessarily concur with or empathize. The Japanese knotweed is referenced hither as ane such example since it's 1 of the world'south fastest-spreading species.
English equivalent: Every worm to his taste; some prefer to eat nettles. At that place's no accounting for taste. Every man to his taste.

19. 蛙の子は蛙。

Literal translation: Child of a frog is a frog.
Meaning: The idea that a kid will usually share the aforementioned character or like qualities to his or her parents.
English equivalent: Similar begetter, like son. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

20. 覆水盆に帰らず。

Literal translation: Spilt water will not render to the tray.
Significant: The idea that what is done cannot be undone.
English equivalent: No use crying over spilled milk. Information technology is what it is.

21. 知らぬが仏 – Shiranugahotoke

Literal translation: Non knowing is Buddha.
Meaning: This Japanese idiom expresses the idea that you can keep your heed at peace, like Buddha, if y'all don't know or expose yourself to anything negative.
English equivalent: Ignorance is bliss. What y'all don't know can't hurt you.

22. 猫に小判 (ねこにこばん)

Literal translation: Gold coins to a true cat. A koban to a cat. (A koban is a golden coin that was used hundreds of years ago in Nihon.)
Meaning:To give something valuable to someone who does non understand its value. This expression can too be used to describe someone who owns or wears things that don't really suit them.
English language equivalent: To bandage pearls before swine.

23. 井の中の蛙、大海を知らず – I no naka no kawazu, taikai wo sirazu

Literal translation: A frog in a well does not know the great sea.
Significant: Someone who is powerful or of import just but within a pocket-sized group of people. This famous Japanese idiom comes from a short tale about a frog who was built-in and lived in a well. The frog was proud that he was the biggest beast in the well and believed he was invincible. When nosotros decided to get out the well, he ended up in the sea and soon realized he wasn't so big, special or invincible subsequently all.
English equivalent: Big fish in a small pond.

24. 二兎を追う者は一兎をも得ず。- Nito wo ou mono wa itto mo ezu

Literal translation: One who chases after two hares won't even catch one.
Meaning: If you try to practise 2 things at one time, you volition fail at both. This Japanese idiom expresses the thought that you shouldn't be greedy and do too much at once. Yous should only focus on ane affair at a time. Equally Ron Swanson said, "Never half-ass 2 things. Whole-ass i affair."
English equivalent: If you run after two hares you will catch neither.

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25. 門前の小僧習わぬ経を読む。

Literal translation: A young monk outside the gate can read sutras he has never studied.
Meaning: You larn, without realising information technology, from what is effectually yous.
English equivalent: To exist a product of your environment.

26. 七転び八起き (ななころびやおき)

Literal translation: Fall downwardly seven times, stand eight.
Meaning: Don't requite up, your persistence will pay off in the stop. When life knocks you down seven times, the eighth fourth dimension you lot stand up is what counts in the end — not the seven falls or failures.
English equivalent: If at first, you lot don't succeed, try, attempt once more. Perseverance is better than defeat.

27. 案ずるより産むが易し。

Literal translation: It is easier to requite birth than to worry about it.
Meaning: This Japanese idiom points out that the act of stressing out well-nigh something is ordinarily worse than the thing you're actually stressing out nearly.
English equivalent: Doing something is easier than worrying about it. It is easier to do something than worry near information technology. Fear overruns the danger.

28. 馬鹿は死ななきゃ治らない。

Literal translation: Unless an idiot dies, he won't be cured.
Meaning: In that location is no cure for ignorance. Nothing tin be washed to assist someone who is ignorant or stupid.
English equivalent: Merely expiry will cure a fool. You can't fix stupid. One time a fool, always a fool.

29. 秋茄子は嫁に食わすな。

Literal translation: Don't feed autumn eggplant to your wife (because they're too delicious, because they'll give her the chills, or considering their lack of seeds will reduce her fertility).
Meaning: Don't allow others accept reward of you.

xxx. 花より団子

Literal translation: Dumplings rather than flowers.
Meaning: The idea that what is practical (food) is preferred over aesthetics (flowers).
English equivalent: Quality over quantity. Substance over style.

31. 口は災いの元 – Kuchi wa wazawai no moto

Literal translation: A mouth causes trouble.
Significant: It's better to say zilch than to accidentally say something incorrect. A similar Japanese idiom is:  言わぬが花 (iwanu ga hana)
English equivalent: Silence is golden. Out of the oral cavity comes evil.

32. 能ある鷹は爪を隠す – Nô aru taka wa tsume wo kakusu

Literal translation: The skilful hawk hides its talons.
Significant: Stay apprehensive and don't evidence off.
English equivalent: A wise man keeps some of his talents in reserve. Who knows near, speaks to the lowest degree.

33. 武士は食わねど高楊枝 – Bushi wa kuwanedo takayôji

Literal translation: A Samurai pretends, even when he is starved, by holding a toothpick between his teeth.
Significant: When you don't let others see your pain because you are too proud.
English equivalent: Keep a stiff upper lip.

34. 悪銭身に付かず – Akusen mi ni tsukazu

Literal translation: Bad money won't stick with y'all.
Meaning: This Japanese idiom states that if you make money past beingness dishonest or cutting corners, you will somewhen lose your fortune.
English language equivalent: Piece of cake come, easy go. Sick-gotten gains are short-lived.

35. 郷に入っては郷に従え –  Gô ni haitte wa gô ni sitagae

Literal translation: Enter the village, follow the township.
Pregnant: When visiting a strange country, you should follow and respect all local customs and traditions.
English equivalent: When in Rome, practice every bit the Romans do.

36. 石二鳥 – Isseki nityou

Literal translation: One stone two birds.
Meaning: To complete a task or solve ii problems with one action or solution.
English equivalent: Kill two birds with one stone.

37. 頭に来る – Atama ni kuru

Literal translation: Come to mind, come to a caput.
Meaning: This Japanese idiom ways to get angry or mad.
English language equivalent: Come to a caput. Reach a boiling/breaking point. Lose one'due south cool.

38. 会わせる顔がない – Awa seru kao ga nai

Literal translation: I have no face to meet.
Pregnant: To exist so ashamed or embarrassed that you won't run into with others so as to avoid farther embarrassment.
English language equivalent: Ashamed to get out in public. Save face up.

39. 口が軽い – Kuchi ga karui

Literal translation: A light oral cavity.
Meaning: Someone who can't go along a surreptitious.
English equivalent: Blabbermouth. Gossip. Loose-lipped. Tattletale. Peacher.

40. のどから手が出る – Nodo kara te ga deru

Literal translation: Exit of your throat.
Significant: This Japanese idiom ways to desperately want something.
English language equivalent: To want something badly you lot tin can taste it. To impale for.

41. 大目玉を食らう – Omedama wo kurau

Literal translation: Eat a large eyeball.
Significant: To exist rebuked or severely scolded.
English equivalent: To be chewed out. To wearing apparel downward.

42. 手を抜く – Te o nuku

Literal translation: To pull a hand.
Meaning: To exercise a poor or substandard job.
English language equivalent: Cut corners. Phone it in. To practice a shoddy job.

43. 雨が降ろうと、槍が降ろうと (あめが ふろうと、やりがふろうと)

Literal translation: Fifty-fifty if rain or spears are falling.
Meaning: This Japanese idiom states that no matter what happens, or however difficult something may be, it will definitely happen or exist done.
English equivalent: Come hell or high h2o.

44. 砂を噛むよう (すなをかむよう)

Literal translation: Like chewing on sand.
Pregnant: When something is wearisome, tiresome, or uninteresting.
English equivalent: Dry equally dust. Mind-numbing. Bored to death.

45.  猫も杓子も (ねこもしゃくしも)

Literal translation: Fifty-fifty cats and rice ladles.
Pregnant: A lot of people.
English equivalent: Every Tom, Dick and Harry. Every human being and his domestic dog.

46. ごまめの歯ぎしり (ごまめのはぎしり)

Literal translation: Fiddling fish grinding their teeth
Meaning: Something lilliputian and of no consequence. When tiny fish grind their teeth, information technology has little to no effect.
English language equivalent: A whisper in the wind. To have bigger fish to fry.

47. 月とすっぽん (つきとすっぽん)

Literal translation: The moon and a soft-crush turtle.
Significant: This Japanese idiom expresses the idea that some things can be superficially similar, but completely different.  The moon and a turtle beat are both circular, but they are otherwise completely unlike – similar the difference between heaven and hell.
English equivalent: Apples and oranges. Nighttime and day. Like chalk and cheese.

48. イタチの最後っ屁 (いたちのさいごっぺ)

Literal translation: The concluding fart of a weasel.
Meaning: The last thing you do or an emergency mensurate taken when cornered.
English language equivalent: Concluding resort. Last measure. One last push. Last ditch effort.

49. 寿司詰め (すしづめ)

Literal translation: Packed like sushi.
Meaning: To exist squeezed together tightly in a small infinite.
English equivalent: Packed like sardines.

50. 朝飯前 (あさめしまえ)

Literal translation: Before the morning meal.
Significant: This Japanese idiom means that something is so easy it tin can exist washed earlier breakfast.
English language equivalent: A piece of cake. Easy peasy (lemon squeezy).

51. 窓際族 (まどぎわぞく)

Literal translation: The window tribe.
Pregnant: Employees who have been promoted in a higher place their peers and now have a window-side desk instead of their ain office like those in more senior managerial positions.
English equivalent: Suits. Drones. Seat warmers.

52. 地獄に仏 (じごくにほとけ)

Literal translation: My Buddha in hell.
Pregnant: Meeting a savior like Buddha in a harsh situation like hell. When someones offers to aid you lot when you're in a bad situation.
English equivalent: A saving grace. My calorie-free in a nighttime place. Personal Jesus.

53. 内弁慶 (うちべんけい)

Literal translation: A warlord at home.
Meaning: Someone haughty and boastful when at domicile but meek and reserved elsewhere.
English equivalent: A man who is a panthera leo at home and a mouse abroad. All bark and no bite.

54. ちゃんぽん

Literal translation: Ching-boom. Champon (dish of noodles, seafood, vegetables from Nagasaki)
Meaning: Mixing things that are ordinarily should be kept separate.
English equivalent: Mish-mash.

55. 暖簾に腕押し (のれんにうでおし)

Literal translation: Pushing shop curtains with arms.
Meaning: To exaggerate the importance of something picayune. Something not worth doing and considered a waste of effort.
English equivalent: Make a mountain out of a molehill. Haste makes waste matter. P**sing in the current of air.

56. 小便横町 (しょうべんよこちょう/しょんべんよこちょう)

Literal translation: Urine alleys/streets.
Meaning: Narrow alleyways that are muddy and evil-smelling.
English equivalent: Back alleys. P**s alley.

57. 出る杭は打たれる (でるくいはうたれる)

Literal translation: The smash that sticks up will exist hammered down.
Significant: By standing out and excel at something, you lot become disliked and invite criticism, so the all-time policy is to go along your head down.
English equivalent: Tall trees grab much wind. Tall-poppy syndrome.

58. 鯛も一人はうまからず (たいもひとりはうまからず)

Literal translation: Eaten alone, fifty-fifty sea bream loses its flavour.
Meaning: Meals are simply delicious when y'all eat them with someone. In Japanese civilisation, a lot of pleasance is felt when sharing a repast with loved ones.

59. 腹八分に医者いらず (はらはちぶにいしゃいらず)

Literal translation: Eight-tenths total, keeps the medico away.
Meaning: This Japanese idiom states that you should eat in moderation until your 80% total and so you stay in skilful wellness and avoid having to take a trip to the medico.
English equivalent: Everything in moderation. An apple a mean solar day keeps the doctor away.

lx. 明日のことを言うと天井のネズミが笑う (あしたのことをいうとてんじょうのねずみがわらう)

Literal translation: The mouse on the ceiling laughs when I say tomorrow.
Meaning: You can't predict the time to come.
English equivalent: We make our plans, and God laughs.

61. 明日は明日の風が吹く (あしたは あしたのかぜがふく)

Literal translation: Tomorrow's winds will blow tomorrow.
Pregnant: Afterwards a bad day, know that tomorrow you will feel improve and that everything volition work out in the end.
English language equivalent: Tomorrow is a new twenty-four hours.

62. 雨降って地固まる (あめふってじかたまる)

Literal translation: After rain falls, the footing hardens.
Significant: This Japanese idiom expresses the thought that past going through hard times y'all build the strength and graphic symbol so that you may be able to endure harder times in the future.
English equivalent: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Rain settles the soil. Adversity strengthens the foundations.

63. 相変わらず (あいかわらず)

Literal translation: The same equally always.
Meaning: Zero has changed since the last fourth dimension.
English equivalent: As usual. As ever. Equally always.

64. 天下り (あまくだり)

Literal translation: To command or dictate, or to autumn from heaven/grace.
Meaning: In Nippon, bureaucrats are often able to observe high-ranking jobs in private firms subsequently retirement. It tin can also mean to go from being superior to inferior by lodge or imposition.
English equivalent: Fall from grace.

65. 口が滑る (くちがすべる)

Literal translation: A sideslip of the mouth.
Pregnant: To reveal secret information unintentionally or indiscreetly.
English language equivalent: Permit the cat out of the bag. Spill the beans. Want to know where the expression "Let the true cat out of the bag comes from? Cheque out my guide to the origins of English idioms here.

66. 因果応報 (いんがおおほう)

Literal translation: Bad causes, bad results.
Significant: That adept fortune volition come to those who have done good deeds, and misfortune will befall those who accept done bad deeds. This stems from the Buddhist philosophy of karmic retribution.
English language equivalent: What goes around comes around. Simply desserts.

67. 花鳥風月 (かちょうふうげつ)

Literal translation: Flower, bird, wind, moon.
Meaning: A poetic phrase that expresses the beauties of nature by listing the kanji for "blossom, bird, wind, moon."

68. 一日一歩 (いちにちいっぽ)

Literal translation: One day, one step.
Meaning: This Japanese idiom encourages us to accept each day as it comes and accept small steps towards our goals.
English equivalent: One day at a fourth dimension.

69. 温故知新 (おんこちしん)

Literal translation: Review past, know future.
Meaning: This Japanese idiom means that we should look back at the by to gain new insights and to take that cognition into the hereafter.
English equivalent: Learn from the past. History repeats itself. Forewarned is forearmed.

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Over to yous!

Which one of these Japanese idioms is your favourite? Was it 'e ven monkeys fall from copse ' or 'my Buddha in hell'? Share your favourites in the comments. Can yous call back of any other Japanese idioms words? Allow me know in the comments and I'll add together them to the listing!

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