"you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear" meaning in All languages combined

See you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear on Wiktionary

Proverb [English]

Etymology: From make a silk purse of a sow's ear, with the common perception of swine as unrefined, dirty, or base creatures. Head templates: {{head|en|proverb|head=you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear}} you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear
  1. It is not possible to produce something refined, admirable, or valuable from something which is unrefined, unpleasant, or of little or no value. Synonyms: you can't polish a turd Related terms: put lipstick on a pig, cast pearls before swine Translations (it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined): al dra 'n aap 'n goue ring, hy is en bly 'n lelike ding (Afrikaans), al draagt een aap een gouden ring, het is en blijft een lelijk ding (Dutch), ei paska punniten parane [vulgar] (Finnish), roskasta ei saa kultaa (Finnish), le singe est toujours singe, fût-il vêtu de pourpre (French), man kann aus einem Ackergaul kein Rennpferd machen (German), man kann aus einem Esel kein Rennpferd machen (German), τον γάιδαρο, όσο και να τον στολίσεις, άλογο δεν γίνεται (ton gáidaro, óso kai na ton stolíseis, álogo den gínetai) (Greek), i w Paryżu nie zrobią z owsa ryżu (english: even in Paris they cannot make rice from oats) (Polish), от оси́ны не родя́тся апельси́ны (ot osíny ne rodjátsja apelʹsíny) (Russian), aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda (Spanish)
{
  "etymology_text": "From make a silk purse of a sow's ear, with the common perception of swine as unrefined, dirty, or base creatures.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb",
        "head": "you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear"
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      "expansion": "you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
      "name": "head"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "It is not possible to produce something refined, admirable, or valuable from something which is unrefined, unpleasant, or of little or no value."
      ],
      "id": "en-you_can't_make_a_silk_purse_of_a_sow's_ear-en-proverb-gVJXz4Hz",
      "links": [
        [
          "refined",
          "refined"
        ],
        [
          "admirable",
          "admirable"
        ],
        [
          "valuable",
          "valuable"
        ],
        [
          "unpleasant",
          "unpleasant"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "put lipstick on a pig"
        },
        {
          "word": "cast pearls before swine"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "you can't polish a turd"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "af",
          "lang": "Afrikaans",
          "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
          "word": "al dra 'n aap 'n goue ring, hy is en bly 'n lelike ding"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
          "word": "al draagt een aap een gouden ring, het is en blijft een lelijk ding"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
          "tags": [
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "ei paska punniten parane"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
          "word": "roskasta ei saa kultaa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
          "word": "le singe est toujours singe, fût-il vêtu de pourpre"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
          "word": "man kann aus einem Ackergaul kein Rennpferd machen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
          "word": "man kann aus einem Esel kein Rennpferd machen"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "ton gáidaro, óso kai na ton stolíseis, álogo den gínetai",
          "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
          "word": "τον γάιδαρο, όσο και να τον στολίσεις, άλογο δεν γίνεται"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "english": "even in Paris they cannot make rice from oats",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
          "word": "i w Paryżu nie zrobią z owsa ryżu"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "ot osíny ne rodjátsja apelʹsíny",
          "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
          "word": "от оси́ны не родя́тся апельси́ны"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
          "word": "aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From make a silk purse of a sow's ear, with the common perception of swine as unrefined, dirty, or base creatures.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "put lipstick on a pig"
    },
    {
      "word": "cast pearls before swine"
    }
  ],
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        "Terms with Polish translations",
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "It is not possible to produce something refined, admirable, or valuable from something which is unrefined, unpleasant, or of little or no value."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "refined",
          "refined"
        ],
        [
          "admirable",
          "admirable"
        ],
        [
          "valuable",
          "valuable"
        ],
        [
          "unpleasant",
          "unpleasant"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "you can't polish a turd"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "af",
      "lang": "Afrikaans",
      "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
      "word": "al dra 'n aap 'n goue ring, hy is en bly 'n lelike ding"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
      "word": "al draagt een aap een gouden ring, het is en blijft een lelijk ding"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
      "tags": [
        "vulgar"
      ],
      "word": "ei paska punniten parane"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
      "word": "roskasta ei saa kultaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
      "word": "le singe est toujours singe, fût-il vêtu de pourpre"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
      "word": "man kann aus einem Ackergaul kein Rennpferd machen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
      "word": "man kann aus einem Esel kein Rennpferd machen"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "ton gáidaro, óso kai na ton stolíseis, álogo den gínetai",
      "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
      "word": "τον γάιδαρο, όσο και να τον στολίσεις, άλογο δεν γίνεται"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "english": "even in Paris they cannot make rice from oats",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
      "word": "i w Paryżu nie zrobią z owsa ryżu"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "ot osíny ne rodjátsja apelʹsíny",
      "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
      "word": "от оси́ны не родя́тся апельси́ны"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "it is not possible to produce something refined from something which is unrefined",
      "word": "aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda"
    }
  ],
  "word": "you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). 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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