See let sleeping dogs lie on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "Attestations exist from the 1820s and 1830s. Earlier ones may be discoverable with better corpus searches. The metaphor is self-evident and is typical of folk wisdom. To choose to pass by a sleeping dog without stirring it is comparable to letting a hornets' nest or beehive be, not poking a bear, and so on.",
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{
"text": "Near-synonyms: let it be, leave it be, let things be, leave things be, let it alone, leave it alone, let things alone, leave things alone; let bygones be bygones, let nature take its course"
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"text": "A: I noticed a minor typo in the proofs just now, but I think they're already doing the make-ready on the press. B: Time to let sleeping dogs lie then.",
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"ref": "1868 August 29, “Sleeping Dogs”, in The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, and Art, volume 26, number 670, page 287:",
"text": "But, leaving novelists alone, on the whole we find in real life that if speech is silvern, silence is essentially golden, and that more harm is done by saying too much than by saying too little; above all, that infinite mischief arises by not letting sleeping dogs lie.",
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"text": "Crystal might have said that those perfect lips were zipped, but the kidnappers had no way of knowing that. Should he let sleeping dogs lie?",
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"To leave things as they are; especially, to avoid restarting or rekindling an old argument; to leave disagreements in the past."
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"word": "let the sleeping dogs lie"
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"lang_code": "cmn",
"roman": "mò rě shìfēi",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "莫惹是非"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
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"roman": "ràng rě shìfēi",
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},
{
"code": "cs",
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"lang_code": "cs",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
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"lang": "Dutch",
"lang_code": "nl",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "slapende honden wekt men niet"
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{
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"lang": "Esperanto",
"lang_code": "eo",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "ne elvoku lupon el la arbaro"
},
{
"code": "fi",
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"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "älä herätä nukkuvaa karhua"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "il ne faut pas réveiller le chat qui dort"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "schlafende Hunde weckt man nicht"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"lang_code": "hu",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "ne ébreszd fel az alvó oroszlánt"
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"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "ekki vekja upp draug"
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"lang_code": "ga",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "ná hoscail doras na hiaróige"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"lang_code": "it",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "non svegliare il can che dorme"
},
{
"alt": "ねたこをおこすな",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"lang_code": "ja",
"roman": "neta ko o okosu na",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "寝た子を起こすな"
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"alt": "さわらぬかみにたたりなし",
"code": "ja",
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"lang_code": "ja",
"roman": "sawaranu kami ni tatari nashi",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "触らぬ神に祟りなし"
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"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "nie rozdrapuj starych ran"
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"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "nie wywołuj wilka z lasu"
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"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "não cutucar a onça com vara curta"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "não cutucar a fera com vara curta"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "não acordar moscas que estão a dormir"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "não mexer com quem está quieto"
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{
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"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "não mexer em vespeiro"
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{
"code": "ru",
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"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "ne budí líxo, poká spit tíxo",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "не буди́ ли́хо, пока́ спит ти́хо"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "ne budíte spjáščuju sobáku",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "не буди́те спя́щую соба́ку"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "ot grexá podálʹše",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "от греха́ пода́льше"
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"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
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"sense": "leave things as they are",
"tags": [
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"word": "не дирај лава док спава"
},
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"sense": "leave things as they are",
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"word": "ne diraj lava dok spava"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "no marear la perdiz"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "no marear la perdiz dejar las cosas tranquilas"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"lang_code": "sv",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "inte väcka den björn som sover"
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},
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"code": "cmn",
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"roman": "mò rě shìfēi",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "莫惹是非"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"lang_code": "cmn",
"roman": "ràng rě shìfēi",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "讓惹是非 /让惹是非"
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"code": "cs",
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"lang": "Dutch",
"lang_code": "nl",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "slapende honden wekt men niet"
},
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"lang": "Esperanto",
"lang_code": "eo",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "ne elvoku lupon el la arbaro"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "älä herätä nukkuvaa karhua"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "il ne faut pas réveiller le chat qui dort"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "schlafende Hunde weckt man nicht"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"lang_code": "hu",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "ne ébreszd fel az alvó oroszlánt"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"lang_code": "is",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "ekki vekja upp draug"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"lang_code": "ga",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "ná hoscail doras na hiaróige"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"lang_code": "it",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "non svegliare il can che dorme"
},
{
"alt": "ねたこをおこすな",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"lang_code": "ja",
"roman": "neta ko o okosu na",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "寝た子を起こすな"
},
{
"alt": "さわらぬかみにたたりなし",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"lang_code": "ja",
"roman": "sawaranu kami ni tatari nashi",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "触らぬ神に祟りなし"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "nie rozdrapuj starych ran"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "nie wywołuj wilka z lasu"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "não cutucar a onça com vara curta"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "não cutucar a fera com vara curta"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "não acordar moscas que estão a dormir"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "não mexer com quem está quieto"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "não mexer em vespeiro"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "ne budí líxo, poká spit tíxo",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "не буди́ ли́хо, пока́ спит ти́хо"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "ne budíte spjáščuju sobáku",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "не буди́те спя́щую соба́ку"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "ot grexá podálʹše",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "от греха́ пода́льше"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"lang_code": "sh",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"tags": [
"Cyrillic"
],
"word": "не дирај лава док спава"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"lang_code": "sh",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"tags": [
"Latin"
],
"word": "ne diraj lava dok spava"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "no marear la perdiz"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "no marear la perdiz dejar las cosas tranquilas"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"lang_code": "sv",
"sense": "leave things as they are",
"word": "inte väcka den björn som sover"
}
],
"word": "let sleeping dogs lie"
}
Download raw JSONL data for let sleeping dogs lie meaning in All languages combined (9.2kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (d6fca27 and 65e1673). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.