"spare the rod and spoil the child" meaning in English

See spare the rod and spoil the child in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Etymology: Commonly claimed to have come from the King James Version of the Bible, Book of Proverbs, 13:24: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” Due to the associated “spoil" concept which is not in the Bible, it more likely came from a 17th-century poem by Samuel Butler called Hudibras. In the poem, a love affair is likened to a child, and spanking is mockingly commended as a way to make the love grow stronger. The actual verse reads: * “What medicine else can cure the fits Of lovers when they lose their wits? Love is a boy by poets styled Then spare the rod and spoil the child.” Etymology templates: {{l|en|spank|spanking}} spanking Head templates: {{head|en|proverb|head=}} spare the rod and spoil the child, {{en-proverb}} spare the rod and spoil the child
  1. If one does not discipline a child, the child will never learn obedience and good manners. Wikipedia link: Book of Proverbs, King James Version of the Bible, Samuel Butler (poet), spare the rod and spoil the child Synonyms: spare the rod and you will spoil the child Related terms: give him enough rope and he'll hang himself, Orbilian Translations (if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility): ὃς φείδεται τῆς βακτηρίας μισεῖ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, ὁ δὲ ἀγαπῶν ἐπιμελῶς παιδεύει (hòs pheídetai tês baktērías miseî tòn huiòn autoû, ho dè agapôn epimelôs paideúei) (Ancient Greek), 不打不成器 (bù dǎ bù chéng qì) (Chinese Mandarin), 省了棍子,慣壞了孩子 (Chinese Mandarin), 省了棍子 (Chinese Mandarin), 惯坏了孩子 (shěng le gùnzi, guànhuài le háizi) (Chinese Mandarin), 三天不打,上房揭瓦 (sāntiānbùdǎ, shàngfángjiēwǎ) (Chinese Mandarin), den man elsker, tugter man (Danish), zachte heelmeesters, stinkende wonden (Dutch), amo kaj puno loĝas komune (Esperanto), joka vitsaa säästää, se lastaan vihaa (Finnish), qui aime bien, châtie bien (French), wer mit der Rute spart, verzieht das Kind (German), wer sein Kind liebt, der schlägt es (German), όποιος αγαπά, τιμωρεί (ópoios agapá, timoreí) (Greek), ⁧חָסַךְ שבטו שׂוֹנֵא בְּנוֹ⁩ (alt: khásakh [?] soné b'no) (Hebrew), néha jól jön egy jól irányzott pofon (Hungarian), elkel néha egy jól irányzott pofon (Hungarian), chi ama bene, castiga bene (Italian), 可愛い子には旅をさせよ (kawaii ko ni wa tabi o sase yo) (Japanese), 獅子の子落とし (shishi no ko otoshi) (alt: ししのこおとし) (Japanese), quī bene amat, bene castīgat (Latin), kto dobrze kocha, ten tęgo bije (Polish), dzieci trzeba trzymać krótko (Polish), kto się lubi ten się czubi (Polish), quem ama, castiga (Portuguese), escatima el palo y malcría al hijo (Spanish), quien bien te quiere, te hará llorar (Spanish), la letra con sangre entra (Spanish), den man älskar, agar man (Swedish), aga din son medan han är liten, annars agar han dig när han blir stor (Swedish), మొక్కై వంగనిది మానై వంగున (mokkai vaṅganidi mānai vaṅguna) (Telugu), insan sevdiğine takılırmış (Turkish)

Download JSON data for spare the rod and spoil the child meaning in English (9.0kB)

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  "etymology_text": "Commonly claimed to have come from the King James Version of the Bible, Book of Proverbs, 13:24: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.”\nDue to the associated “spoil\" concept which is not in the Bible, it more likely came from a 17th-century poem by Samuel Butler called Hudibras. In the poem, a love affair is likened to a child, and spanking is mockingly commended as a way to make the love grow stronger. The actual verse reads:\n* “What medicine else can cure the fits\nOf lovers when they lose their wits?\nLove is a boy by poets styled\nThen spare the rod and spoil the child.”",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
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          "kind": "other",
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      "glosses": [
        "If one does not discipline a child, the child will never learn obedience and good manners."
      ],
      "id": "en-spare_the_rod_and_spoil_the_child-en-proverb-FFrDB10l",
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          "word": "give him enough rope and he'll hang himself"
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      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "spare the rod and you will spoil the child"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "bù dǎ bù chéng qì",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "不打不成器"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "省了棍子,慣壞了孩子"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "省了棍子"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "shěng le gùnzi, guànhuài le háizi",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "惯坏了孩子"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "sāntiānbùdǎ, shàngfángjiēwǎ",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "三天不打,上房揭瓦"
        },
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "den man elsker, tugter man"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "zachte heelmeesters, stinkende wonden"
        },
        {
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "amo kaj puno loĝas komune"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "joka vitsaa säästää, se lastaan vihaa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "qui aime bien, châtie bien"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "wer mit der Rute spart, verzieht das Kind"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "wer sein Kind liebt, der schlägt es"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "ópoios agapá, timoreí",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "όποιος αγαπά, τιμωρεί"
        },
        {
          "code": "grc",
          "lang": "Ancient Greek",
          "roman": "hòs pheídetai tês baktērías miseî tòn huiòn autoû, ho dè agapôn epimelôs paideúei",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "ὃς φείδεται τῆς βακτηρίας μισεῖ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, ὁ δὲ ἀγαπῶν ἐπιμελῶς παιδεύει"
        },
        {
          "alt": "khásakh [?] soné b'no",
          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "⁧חָסַךְ שבטו שׂוֹנֵא בְּנוֹ⁩"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "néha jól jön egy jól irányzott pofon"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "elkel néha egy jól irányzott pofon"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "chi ama bene, castiga bene"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "kawaii ko ni wa tabi o sase yo",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "可愛い子には旅をさせよ"
        },
        {
          "alt": "ししのこおとし",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "shishi no ko otoshi",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "獅子の子落とし"
        },
        {
          "code": "la",
          "lang": "Latin",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "quī bene amat, bene castīgat"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "kto dobrze kocha, ten tęgo bije"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "dzieci trzeba trzymać krótko"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "kto się lubi ten się czubi"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "quem ama, castiga"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "пожале́ешь ро́згу — испо́ртишь ребёнка (požaléješʹ rózgu — ispórtišʹ rebjónka)",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "кого́ люблю́ — того́ и бью (kovó ljubljú — tovó i bʹju)",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "escatima el palo y malcría al hijo"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "quien bien te quiere, te hará llorar"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "la letra con sangre entra"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "den man älskar, agar man"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "aga din son medan han är liten, annars agar han dig när han blir stor"
        },
        {
          "code": "te",
          "lang": "Telugu",
          "roman": "mokkai vaṅganidi mānai vaṅguna",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "మొక్కై వంగనిది మానై వంగున"
        },
        {
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
          "word": "insan sevdiğine takılırmış"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Book of Proverbs",
        "King James Version of the Bible",
        "Samuel Butler (poet)",
        "spare the rod and spoil the child"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spare the rod and spoil the child"
}
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  "etymology_text": "Commonly claimed to have come from the King James Version of the Bible, Book of Proverbs, 13:24: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.”\nDue to the associated “spoil\" concept which is not in the Bible, it more likely came from a 17th-century poem by Samuel Butler called Hudibras. In the poem, a love affair is likened to a child, and spanking is mockingly commended as a way to make the love grow stronger. The actual verse reads:\n* “What medicine else can cure the fits\nOf lovers when they lose their wits?\nLove is a boy by poets styled\nThen spare the rod and spoil the child.”",
  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "spare the rod and spoil the child",
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      "expansion": "spare the rod and spoil the child",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
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      "word": "give him enough rope and he'll hang himself"
    },
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      "word": "Orbilian"
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        "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations"
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      "glosses": [
        "If one does not discipline a child, the child will never learn obedience and good manners."
      ],
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        "King James Version of the Bible",
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        "spare the rod and spoil the child"
      ]
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "spare the rod and you will spoil the child"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "bù dǎ bù chéng qì",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "不打不成器"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "省了棍子,慣壞了孩子"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "省了棍子"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "shěng le gùnzi, guànhuài le háizi",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "惯坏了孩子"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "sāntiānbùdǎ, shàngfángjiēwǎ",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "三天不打,上房揭瓦"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "den man elsker, tugter man"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "zachte heelmeesters, stinkende wonden"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "amo kaj puno loĝas komune"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "joka vitsaa säästää, se lastaan vihaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "qui aime bien, châtie bien"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "wer mit der Rute spart, verzieht das Kind"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "wer sein Kind liebt, der schlägt es"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "ópoios agapá, timoreí",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "όποιος αγαπά, τιμωρεί"
    },
    {
      "code": "grc",
      "lang": "Ancient Greek",
      "roman": "hòs pheídetai tês baktērías miseî tòn huiòn autoû, ho dè agapôn epimelôs paideúei",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "ὃς φείδεται τῆς βακτηρίας μισεῖ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, ὁ δὲ ἀγαπῶν ἐπιμελῶς παιδεύει"
    },
    {
      "alt": "khásakh [?] soné b'no",
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "⁧חָסַךְ שבטו שׂוֹנֵא בְּנוֹ⁩"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "néha jól jön egy jól irányzott pofon"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "elkel néha egy jól irányzott pofon"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "chi ama bene, castiga bene"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "kawaii ko ni wa tabi o sase yo",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "可愛い子には旅をさせよ"
    },
    {
      "alt": "ししのこおとし",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "shishi no ko otoshi",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "獅子の子落とし"
    },
    {
      "code": "la",
      "lang": "Latin",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "quī bene amat, bene castīgat"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "kto dobrze kocha, ten tęgo bije"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "dzieci trzeba trzymać krótko"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "kto się lubi ten się czubi"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "quem ama, castiga"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "пожале́ешь ро́згу — испо́ртишь ребёнка (požaléješʹ rózgu — ispórtišʹ rebjónka)",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "кого́ люблю́ — того́ и бью (kovó ljubljú — tovó i bʹju)",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "escatima el palo y malcría al hijo"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "quien bien te quiere, te hará llorar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "la letra con sangre entra"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "den man älskar, agar man"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "aga din son medan han är liten, annars agar han dig när han blir stor"
    },
    {
      "code": "te",
      "lang": "Telugu",
      "roman": "mokkai vaṅganidi mānai vaṅguna",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "మొక్కై వంగనిది మానై వంగున"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "if one does not discipline a child he or she will never learn respect or humility",
      "word": "insan sevdiğine takılırmış"
    }
  ],
  "word": "spare the rod and spoil the child"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). 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.