See law of the jungle on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "Introduced by Rudyard Kipling in his 1894 book, The Jungle Book, in which he used the term in the literal sense of a legal code governing the behaviour of his anthropomorphised animals in an Indian jungle.\nNote also the (possibly derived) colloquial sense of jungle (“place where people behave ruthlessly, unconstrained by law or morality”).",
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"ref": "1897, Rudyard Kipling, The Writings in Prose and Verse of Rudyard Kipling: The Jungle Book, Charles Scribner's Sons, page 77:",
"text": "The Law of the Jungle — which is by far the oldest law in the world — has arranged for almost every kind of accident that may befall the Jungle People, till now its code is as perfect as time and custom can make it.",
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"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see law, jungle."
],
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{
"_dis1": "81 19",
"word": "anything goes"
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{
"_dis1": "81 19",
"word": "dog eat dog"
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{
"_dis1": "81 19",
"word": "every man for himself"
},
{
"_dis1": "81 19",
"word": "free-for-all"
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"name": "Rudyard Kipling",
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{
"text": "1938, Proceedings of the Sixth Conference of Teachers of International Law and Related Subjects, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, page 111,\nIn the next war there will be no international law or 'comity of nations' but merely the law of the jungle, and of primeval man—each for himself and the devil take the next man."
},
{
"text": "1983, The Law of the Sea, School of Law, Duke University, page 57,\nTo bring order to this law of the jungle at sea was a particular reason for the Law of the Sea Conference, especially insofar as the United States was concerned."
},
{
"text": "1988, The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in Southeast Asia: Problems of Implementation, Volume 1, Southeast Asian Programme on Ocean Law, Policy, and Management, page 2,\nFor small countries such as Singapore, they would have the most to lose if the law of the jungle were to prevail."
}
],
"glosses": [
"A putative law dictating that one serves one's own interest to the extent that one can, in any situation where legal authority is absent or generally ignored; self-interested behaviour that emerges in the absence of law; lawlessness."
],
"id": "en-law_of_the_jungle-en-noun-NM3hkRL0",
"links": [
[
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"lawlessness"
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"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) A putative law dictating that one serves one's own interest to the extent that one can, in any situation where legal authority is absent or generally ignored; self-interested behaviour that emerges in the absence of law; lawlessness."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "ar",
"lang": "Arabic",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "شريعَة الغاب"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "ar",
"lang": "Arabic",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "قانون الغابَة"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "cónglín fǎzé",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "叢林法則 /丛林法则"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "ruòròuqiángshí",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "弱肉強食 /弱肉强食"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "viidakon laki"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
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"lang": "French",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "loi de la jungle"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "loi du plus fort"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "lei da selva"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "a dzsungel törvénye"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "farkasok törvénye"
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{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "farkastörvény"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "legge della giungla"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "jakuniku kyōshoku",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "弱肉強食"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"alt": "弱肉强食",
"code": "ko",
"lang": "Korean",
"roman": "yagyukgangsik",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "약육강식"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "prawo dżungli"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
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"word": "prawo pięści"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"neuter"
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"word": "wilcze prawo"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "lei da selva"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "ro",
"lang": "Romanian",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "legea junglei"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "zakón džúnglej",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "зако́н джу́нглей"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ley de la selva"
},
{
"_dis1": "14 86",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "djungelns lag"
}
]
}
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"law of the jungle"
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"word": "law of the jungle"
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"etymology_text": "Introduced by Rudyard Kipling in his 1894 book, The Jungle Book, in which he used the term in the literal sense of a legal code governing the behaviour of his anthropomorphised animals in an Indian jungle.\nNote also the (possibly derived) colloquial sense of jungle (“place where people behave ruthlessly, unconstrained by law or morality”).",
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"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "anything goes"
},
{
"word": "dog eat dog"
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{
"word": "every man for himself"
},
{
"word": "free-for-all"
},
{
"word": "survival of the fittest"
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],
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"text": "The Law of the Jungle — which is by far the oldest law in the world — has arranged for almost every kind of accident that may befall the Jungle People, till now its code is as perfect as time and custom can make it.",
"type": "quote"
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],
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see law, jungle."
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"text": "1938, Proceedings of the Sixth Conference of Teachers of International Law and Related Subjects, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, page 111,\nIn the next war there will be no international law or 'comity of nations' but merely the law of the jungle, and of primeval man—each for himself and the devil take the next man."
},
{
"text": "1983, The Law of the Sea, School of Law, Duke University, page 57,\nTo bring order to this law of the jungle at sea was a particular reason for the Law of the Sea Conference, especially insofar as the United States was concerned."
},
{
"text": "1988, The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in Southeast Asia: Problems of Implementation, Volume 1, Southeast Asian Programme on Ocean Law, Policy, and Management, page 2,\nFor small countries such as Singapore, they would have the most to lose if the law of the jungle were to prevail."
}
],
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"A putative law dictating that one serves one's own interest to the extent that one can, in any situation where legal authority is absent or generally ignored; self-interested behaviour that emerges in the absence of law; lawlessness."
],
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"(figurative) A putative law dictating that one serves one's own interest to the extent that one can, in any situation where legal authority is absent or generally ignored; self-interested behaviour that emerges in the absence of law; lawlessness."
],
"tags": [
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"translations": [
{
"code": "ar",
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"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
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"word": "شريعَة الغاب"
},
{
"code": "ar",
"lang": "Arabic",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
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],
"word": "قانون الغابَة"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "cónglín fǎzé",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "叢林法則 /丛林法则"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "ruòròuqiángshí",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "弱肉強食 /弱肉强食"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "viidakon laki"
},
{
"code": "fr",
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"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
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"word": "loi de la jungle"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "loi du plus fort"
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{
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "lei da selva"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "a dzsungel törvénye"
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{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "farkasok törvénye"
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"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "farkastörvény"
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"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
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"word": "legge della giungla"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "jakuniku kyōshoku",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "弱肉強食"
},
{
"alt": "弱肉强食",
"code": "ko",
"lang": "Korean",
"roman": "yagyukgangsik",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "약육강식"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"neuter"
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"word": "prawo dżungli"
},
{
"code": "pl",
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"word": "prawo pięści"
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{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"neuter"
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"word": "wilcze prawo"
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{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
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"word": "lei da selva"
},
{
"code": "ro",
"lang": "Romanian",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "legea junglei"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "zakón džúnglej",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "зако́н джу́нглей"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ley de la selva"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "putative law of a lawless situation",
"word": "djungelns lag"
}
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"Rudyard Kipling",
"The Jungle Book",
"law of the jungle"
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"word": "law of the jungle"
}
Download raw JSONL data for law of the jungle meaning in All languages combined (6.9kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (ee63ee9 and 4230888). 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.
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