See call a spade a spade on Wiktionary
Download JSON data for call a spade a spade meaning in All languages combined (9.9kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "grc",
"3": "τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάσων",
"4": "",
"5": "calling figs figs, and a trough a trough",
"notext": "1"
},
"expansion": "Ancient Greek τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάσων (tà sûka sûka, tḕn skáphēn dè skáphēn onomásōn, “calling figs figs, and a trough a trough”)",
"name": "calque"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "grc",
"2": "σκάφη",
"3": "",
"4": "trough"
},
"expansion": "σκάφη (skáphē, “trough”)",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "grc",
"2": "σκαφείον",
"3": "",
"4": "digging tool"
},
"expansion": "σκαφείον (skapheíon, “digging tool”)",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "A mistaken translation of Ancient Greek τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάσων (tà sûka sûka, tḕn skáphēn dè skáphēn onomásōn, “calling figs figs, and a trough a trough”). The word σκάφη (skáphē, “trough”) was mistranslated by the Renaissance scholar Desiderius Erasmus as σκαφείον (skapheíon, “digging tool”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "calls a spade a spade",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "calling a spade a spade",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "called a spade a spade",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "called a spade a spade",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "*"
},
"expansion": "call a spade a spade (third-person singular simple present calls a spade a spade, present participle calling a spade a spade, simple past and past participle called a spade a spade)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
"Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English reduplicated coordinated pairs",
"parents": [
"Reduplicated coordinated pairs",
"Coordinated pairs",
"Reduplications",
"Terms by etymology"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English tautophrases",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"parents": [
"Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
"parents": [
"Terms with redundant transliterations",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"coordinate_terms": [
{
"word": "call a spade a shovel"
},
{
"word": "call it as one sees it"
},
{
"word": "tell it like it is"
},
{
"word": "beat around the bush"
},
{
"word": "beat about the bush"
},
{
"word": "pull one's punches"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2005, Bright Eyes, When the President Talks to God",
"text": "Maybe God just calls a spade a spade, when the president talks to God.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To put it bluntly, to be outspoken; to speak the truth, to say things as they really are."
],
"id": "en-call_a_spade_a_spade-en-verb-1HgHKzSF",
"links": [
[
"put",
"put"
],
[
"bluntly",
"bluntly"
],
[
"outspoken",
"outspoken"
],
[
"speak",
"speak"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To put it bluntly, to be outspoken; to speak the truth, to say things as they really are."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "spadish"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "call a spade a spade and a shovel a shovel"
},
{
"tags": [
"rare"
],
"word": "call a shovel a shovel"
},
{
"word": "call a spade a spade, not a big spoon"
},
{
"english": "spoon; spade",
"tags": [
"rare"
],
"word": "call a spoon a and a spade a"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ar",
"lang": "Arabic",
"note": "سَمَّى الْأَشْياءَ بِمُسَمَّياتِهَا (sammā l-ʔašyāʔa bimusammayātihā, literally “to call the things by their names”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "hy",
"lang": "Armenian",
"note": "խոսքը սար ու ձոր չգցել (xoskʻə sar u jor čʻgcʻel, literally “not to go to mountains or valleys”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "hy",
"lang": "Armenian",
"note": "սար ու ձոր չընկնել (sar u jor čʻənknel, literally “not to fall into mountains or valleys”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "be",
"lang": "Belarusian",
"note": "называ́ць рэ́чы сваі́мі імёнамі impf (nazyvácʹ réčy svaími imjónami, literally “call things by their names”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "實話實說"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "shíhuàshíshuō",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "实话实说"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "直言不諱"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "zhíyánbùhuì",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "直言不讳"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "nazvat věc pravým jménem"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "nazývat věci pravými jmény"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "kalde en spade for en spade"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "zeggen zoals het is"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "de dingen bij hun naam noemen"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "man en paard noemen"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"tags": [
"Belgium"
],
"word": "een kat een kat noemen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "puhua asioista niiden oikeilla nimillä"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "kutsua asioita niiden oikeilla nimillä"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "mainitakseen asian oikealla nimellään"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "olla suorasanainen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "olla suorasukainen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "olla suorapuheinen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "suomeksi sanottuna"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "totta puhuen"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "appeler un chat un chat"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "das Kind beim Namen nennen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "die Dinge beim Namen nennen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "kein Blatt vor den Mund nehmen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "es auf gut Deutsch sagen"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"note": "λέω τα σύκα σύκα και τη σκάφη σκάφη (léo ta sýka sýka kai ti skáfi skáfi, literally “to tell figs ‘figs’ and a trough ‘trough’”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "nevén nevezi a gyereket"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "ná baintear an t-ainm den bhairín, den bhlonag"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "dire pane al pane e vino al vino"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"note": "ありのまま言う (ari no mama iu, literally “to say as it is”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"note": "歯に衣着せぬ (ha ni kinu kisenu, literally “not to dress teeth”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "kalle en spade for en spade"
},
{
"code": "nn",
"lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "kalle ein spade for ein spade"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "nazywać rzeczy po imieniu"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "pão, pão, queijo, queijo"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"note": "называ́ть ве́щи свои́ми имена́ми impf (nazyvátʹ véšči svoími imenámi, literally “call things by their names”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "gd",
"lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "dìreach ann an cainnt"
},
{
"code": "sk",
"lang": "Slovak",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "nazývať veci pravými menami"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "llamar al pan, pan, y al vino, vino"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "llamar las cosas por su nombre"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "en spade är en spade"
},
{
"code": "uk",
"lang": "Ukrainian",
"note": "назива́ти ре́чі свої́ми імена́ми impf (nazyváty réči svojímy imenámy, literally “call things by their names”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Desiderius Erasmus",
"to call a spade a spade"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "en-au-call a spade a spade.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/26/En-au-call_a_spade_a_spade.ogg/En-au-call_a_spade_a_spade.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/En-au-call_a_spade_a_spade.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "call a spade a spade"
}
{
"coordinate_terms": [
{
"word": "call a spade a shovel"
},
{
"word": "call it as one sees it"
},
{
"word": "tell it like it is"
},
{
"word": "beat around the bush"
},
{
"word": "beat about the bush"
},
{
"word": "pull one's punches"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "grc",
"3": "τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάσων",
"4": "",
"5": "calling figs figs, and a trough a trough",
"notext": "1"
},
"expansion": "Ancient Greek τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάσων (tà sûka sûka, tḕn skáphēn dè skáphēn onomásōn, “calling figs figs, and a trough a trough”)",
"name": "calque"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "grc",
"2": "σκάφη",
"3": "",
"4": "trough"
},
"expansion": "σκάφη (skáphē, “trough”)",
"name": "m"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "grc",
"2": "σκαφείον",
"3": "",
"4": "digging tool"
},
"expansion": "σκαφείον (skapheíon, “digging tool”)",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "A mistaken translation of Ancient Greek τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάσων (tà sûka sûka, tḕn skáphēn dè skáphēn onomásōn, “calling figs figs, and a trough a trough”). The word σκάφη (skáphē, “trough”) was mistranslated by the Renaissance scholar Desiderius Erasmus as σκαφείον (skapheíon, “digging tool”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "calls a spade a spade",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "calling a spade a spade",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "called a spade a spade",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "called a spade a spade",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "*"
},
"expansion": "call a spade a spade (third-person singular simple present calls a spade a spade, present participle calling a spade a spade, simple past and past participle called a spade a spade)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "spadish"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English reduplicated coordinated pairs",
"English tautophrases",
"English terms calqued from Ancient Greek",
"English terms derived from Ancient Greek",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English terms with quotations",
"English verbs",
"Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2005, Bright Eyes, When the President Talks to God",
"text": "Maybe God just calls a spade a spade, when the president talks to God.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To put it bluntly, to be outspoken; to speak the truth, to say things as they really are."
],
"links": [
[
"put",
"put"
],
[
"bluntly",
"bluntly"
],
[
"outspoken",
"outspoken"
],
[
"speak",
"speak"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To put it bluntly, to be outspoken; to speak the truth, to say things as they really are."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"wikipedia": [
"Desiderius Erasmus",
"to call a spade a spade"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "en-au-call a spade a spade.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/26/En-au-call_a_spade_a_spade.ogg/En-au-call_a_spade_a_spade.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/En-au-call_a_spade_a_spade.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "call a spade a spade and a shovel a shovel"
},
{
"tags": [
"rare"
],
"word": "call a shovel a shovel"
},
{
"word": "call a spade a spade, not a big spoon"
},
{
"english": "spoon; spade",
"tags": [
"rare"
],
"word": "call a spoon a and a spade a"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ar",
"lang": "Arabic",
"note": "سَمَّى الْأَشْياءَ بِمُسَمَّياتِهَا (sammā l-ʔašyāʔa bimusammayātihā, literally “to call the things by their names”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "hy",
"lang": "Armenian",
"note": "խոսքը սար ու ձոր չգցել (xoskʻə sar u jor čʻgcʻel, literally “not to go to mountains or valleys”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "hy",
"lang": "Armenian",
"note": "սար ու ձոր չընկնել (sar u jor čʻənknel, literally “not to fall into mountains or valleys”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "be",
"lang": "Belarusian",
"note": "называ́ць рэ́чы сваі́мі імёнамі impf (nazyvácʹ réčy svaími imjónami, literally “call things by their names”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "實話實說"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "shíhuàshíshuō",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "实话实说"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "直言不諱"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "zhíyánbùhuì",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "直言不讳"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "nazvat věc pravým jménem"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "nazývat věci pravými jmény"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "kalde en spade for en spade"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "zeggen zoals het is"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "de dingen bij hun naam noemen"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "man en paard noemen"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"tags": [
"Belgium"
],
"word": "een kat een kat noemen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "puhua asioista niiden oikeilla nimillä"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "kutsua asioita niiden oikeilla nimillä"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "mainitakseen asian oikealla nimellään"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "olla suorasanainen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "olla suorasukainen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "olla suorapuheinen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "suomeksi sanottuna"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "totta puhuen"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "appeler un chat un chat"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "das Kind beim Namen nennen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "die Dinge beim Namen nennen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "kein Blatt vor den Mund nehmen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "es auf gut Deutsch sagen"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"note": "λέω τα σύκα σύκα και τη σκάφη σκάφη (léo ta sýka sýka kai ti skáfi skáfi, literally “to tell figs ‘figs’ and a trough ‘trough’”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "nevén nevezi a gyereket"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "ná baintear an t-ainm den bhairín, den bhlonag"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "dire pane al pane e vino al vino"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"note": "ありのまま言う (ari no mama iu, literally “to say as it is”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"note": "歯に衣着せぬ (ha ni kinu kisenu, literally “not to dress teeth”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "kalle en spade for en spade"
},
{
"code": "nn",
"lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "kalle ein spade for ein spade"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "nazywać rzeczy po imieniu"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "pão, pão, queijo, queijo"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"note": "называ́ть ве́щи свои́ми имена́ми impf (nazyvátʹ véšči svoími imenámi, literally “call things by their names”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
},
{
"code": "gd",
"lang": "Scottish Gaelic",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "dìreach ann an cainnt"
},
{
"code": "sk",
"lang": "Slovak",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "nazývať veci pravými menami"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "llamar al pan, pan, y al vino, vino"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "llamar las cosas por su nombre"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "to speak the truth",
"word": "en spade är en spade"
},
{
"code": "uk",
"lang": "Ukrainian",
"note": "назива́ти ре́чі свої́ми імена́ми impf (nazyváty réči svojímy imenámy, literally “call things by their names”)",
"sense": "to speak the truth"
}
],
"word": "call a spade a spade"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (a644e18 and edd475d). 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.