"like a duck to water" meaning in English

See like a duck to water in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Audio: En-au-like a duck to water.ogg
Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} like a duck to water, {{en-PP}} like a duck to water
  1. (simile, idiomatic) Alternative form of like a duck takes to water. Tags: alt-of, alternative, idiomatic Alternative form of: like a duck takes to water
    Sense id: en-like_a_duck_to_water-en-prep_phrase-O8GEzR99 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English similes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "like a duck to water",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "like a duck to water",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "like a duck takes to water"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English similes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of like a duck takes to water."
      ],
      "id": "en-like_a_duck_to_water-en-prep_phrase-O8GEzR99",
      "links": [
        [
          "like a duck takes to water",
          "like a duck takes to water#English"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile, idiomatic) Alternative form of like a duck takes to water."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-like a duck to water.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d6/En-au-like_a_duck_to_water.ogg/En-au-like_a_duck_to_water.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/En-au-like_a_duck_to_water.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "like a duck to water"
}
{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "like a duck to water",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "like a duck to water",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "like a duck takes to water"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English prepositional phrases",
        "English similes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of like a duck takes to water."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "like a duck takes to water",
          "like a duck takes to water#English"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile, idiomatic) Alternative form of like a duck takes to water."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-like a duck to water.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d6/En-au-like_a_duck_to_water.ogg/En-au-like_a_duck_to_water.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/En-au-like_a_duck_to_water.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "like a duck to water"
}

Download raw JSONL data for like a duck to water meaning in English (1.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-07-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-07-01 using wiktextract (45c4a21 and f1c2b61). 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.