"what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander" meaning in English

See what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Etymology: 1670s, figuratively using goose/gander for women and men, and literally meaning that the same sauce applies equally well to cooked goose, regardless of sex. Early forms include “as deep drinketh the goose as the gander” (1562) and similar “As well for the coowe calfe as for the bull” (1549). The expression appears in Dickens when a spy attempting to evade culpability insists, “For you cannot sarse the goose and not the gander.” Head templates: {{head|en|proverb}} what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander
  1. If something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another (often of the opposite gender). Translations (if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another): gelijke monniken, gelijke kappen (Dutch), saŭco por la anserino ankaŭ estas saŭco por la viransero (Esperanto), ei köyhänkään suu tuohesta ole (Finnish), sauce bonne pour l’oie est bonne pour le jars (French), was dem einen recht ist, ist dem anderen billig (German), ami jó az egyiknek, jó a másiknak is (Hungarian), ami nekem jó, legyen neked is jó (Hungarian), quel che vale per l’uno vale anche per l’altro (Italian), pau que dá em Chico, dá em Francisco (Portuguese), lo que es bueno para el pavo, es bueno para la pava (Spanish), aynı tas aynı hamam (Turkish)
    Sense id: en-what's_sauce_for_the_goose_is_sauce_for_the_gander-en-proverb-3kBFz5Lx Categories (other): Terms with Hungarian translations Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 47 53 Disambiguation of 'if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another': 93 7
  2. One who treats others in a certain way should not complain about receiving the same treatment. Translations (one who treats others in a certain way should not complain about receiving the same treatment): ami az egyiknek szabad, szabad a másiknak is (legyen) (Hungarian)
    Sense id: en-what's_sauce_for_the_goose_is_sauce_for_the_gander-en-proverb-xhCdhvt7 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English proverbs, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Esperanto translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Turkish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 9 91 Disambiguation of English proverbs: 11 89 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 3 97 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 4 96 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 1 99 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 4 96 Disambiguation of Terms with Esperanto translations: 3 97 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 7 93 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 3 97 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 8 92 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 47 53 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 3 97 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 41 59 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 3 97 Disambiguation of Terms with Turkish translations: 6 94 Disambiguation of 'one who treats others in a certain way should not complain about receiving the same treatment': 4 96
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: turnabout is fair play Derived forms: what's good for the goose is good for the gander, sauce for the goose
{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "english": "Gods may do what cattle may not",
      "word": "quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi"
    }
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "17 83",
      "word": "what's good for the goose is good for the gander"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "17 83",
      "word": "sauce for the goose"
    }
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "fr",
            "2": "sauce bonne pour l'oie est bonne pour le jars"
          },
          "expansion": "French: sauce bonne pour l’oie est bonne pour le jars",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "French: sauce bonne pour l’oie est bonne pour le jars"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "1670s, figuratively using goose/gander for women and men, and literally meaning that the same sauce applies equally well to cooked goose, regardless of sex. Early forms include “as deep drinketh the goose as the gander” (1562) and similar “As well for the coowe calfe as for the bull” (1549). The expression appears in Dickens when a spy attempting to evade culpability insists, “For you cannot sarse the goose and not the gander.”",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "[1674, Richard Head, The English Rogue, Part 3, page 4:",
          "text": "[…] sawce which is good for the Goose, I hope will be good for the Gander […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "[1678, John Ray, Collection of English Proverbs, 2nd edition, Cambridge, page 48:",
          "text": "That that's good sauce for a goose, is good for a gander.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, Act V, scene [ii], page 61:",
          "text": "[I]t is, as I may ſo ſay, a ſavvcy Plot: and vve all knovv, moſt Reverend Fathers, that vvhat is ſavvce for a Gooſe is ſavvce for a Gander: Therefore, I ſay, as thoſe bloud-thirſty Ganders of the conſpiracy vvould have deſtroyed us Geeſe of the Senate, let us make haſte to deſtroy them, ſo I humbly move for hanging— […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1945, Herbert Walter Fairman, “An Introduction to the Study of Ptolemaic Signs and Their Values”, in Le Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, volume 43, page 80:",
          "text": "What is sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose and the arguments that he produces against my suggestion apply with double force to his.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another (often of the opposite gender)."
      ],
      "id": "en-what's_sauce_for_the_goose_is_sauce_for_the_gander-en-proverb-3kBFz5Lx",
      "links": [
        [
          "acceptable",
          "acceptable"
        ],
        [
          "person",
          "person"
        ],
        [
          "opposite",
          "opposite"
        ],
        [
          "gender",
          "gender"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
          "word": "gelijke monniken, gelijke kappen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
          "word": "saŭco por la anserino ankaŭ estas saŭco por la viransero"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
          "word": "ei köyhänkään suu tuohesta ole"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
          "word": "sauce bonne pour l’oie est bonne pour le jars"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
          "word": "was dem einen recht ist, ist dem anderen billig"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
          "word": "ami jó az egyiknek, jó a másiknak is"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
          "word": "ami nekem jó, legyen neked is jó"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
          "word": "quel che vale per l’uno vale anche per l’altro"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
          "word": "pau que dá em Chico, dá em Francisco"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
          "word": "lo que es bueno para el pavo, es bueno para la pava"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
          "word": "aynı tas aynı hamam"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "9 91",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 89",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "3 97",
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          "_dis": "4 96",
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          "_dis": "4 96",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 97",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Esperanto translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "7 93",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 97",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "8 92",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 97",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Italian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "41 59",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 97",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "6 94",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Turkish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who treats others in a certain way should not complain about receiving the same treatment."
      ],
      "id": "en-what's_sauce_for_the_goose_is_sauce_for_the_gander-en-proverb-xhCdhvt7",
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "4 96",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "one who treats others in a certain way should not complain about receiving the same treatment",
          "word": "ami az egyiknek szabad, szabad a másiknak is (legyen)"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "17 83",
      "word": "turnabout is fair play"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Euphues and his England",
    "John Heywood",
    "John Lyly"
  ],
  "word": "what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander"
}
{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "english": "Gods may do what cattle may not",
      "word": "quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi"
    }
  ],
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English proverbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Dutch translations",
    "Terms with Esperanto translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Turkish translations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "what's good for the goose is good for the gander"
    },
    {
      "word": "sauce for the goose"
    }
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "fr",
            "2": "sauce bonne pour l'oie est bonne pour le jars"
          },
          "expansion": "French: sauce bonne pour l’oie est bonne pour le jars",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "French: sauce bonne pour l’oie est bonne pour le jars"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "1670s, figuratively using goose/gander for women and men, and literally meaning that the same sauce applies equally well to cooked goose, regardless of sex. Early forms include “as deep drinketh the goose as the gander” (1562) and similar “As well for the coowe calfe as for the bull” (1549). The expression appears in Dickens when a spy attempting to evade culpability insists, “For you cannot sarse the goose and not the gander.”",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "[1674, Richard Head, The English Rogue, Part 3, page 4:",
          "text": "[…] sawce which is good for the Goose, I hope will be good for the Gander […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "[1678, John Ray, Collection of English Proverbs, 2nd edition, Cambridge, page 48:",
          "text": "That that's good sauce for a goose, is good for a gander.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, Act V, scene [ii], page 61:",
          "text": "[I]t is, as I may ſo ſay, a ſavvcy Plot: and vve all knovv, moſt Reverend Fathers, that vvhat is ſavvce for a Gooſe is ſavvce for a Gander: Therefore, I ſay, as thoſe bloud-thirſty Ganders of the conſpiracy vvould have deſtroyed us Geeſe of the Senate, let us make haſte to deſtroy them, ſo I humbly move for hanging— […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1945, Herbert Walter Fairman, “An Introduction to the Study of Ptolemaic Signs and Their Values”, in Le Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, volume 43, page 80:",
          "text": "What is sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose and the arguments that he produces against my suggestion apply with double force to his.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another (often of the opposite gender)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "acceptable",
          "acceptable"
        ],
        [
          "person",
          "person"
        ],
        [
          "opposite",
          "opposite"
        ],
        [
          "gender",
          "gender"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "One who treats others in a certain way should not complain about receiving the same treatment."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "turnabout is fair play"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
      "word": "gelijke monniken, gelijke kappen"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
      "word": "saŭco por la anserino ankaŭ estas saŭco por la viransero"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
      "word": "ei köyhänkään suu tuohesta ole"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
      "word": "sauce bonne pour l’oie est bonne pour le jars"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
      "word": "was dem einen recht ist, ist dem anderen billig"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
      "word": "ami jó az egyiknek, jó a másiknak is"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
      "word": "ami nekem jó, legyen neked is jó"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
      "word": "quel che vale per l’uno vale anche per l’altro"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
      "word": "pau que dá em Chico, dá em Francisco"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
      "word": "lo que es bueno para el pavo, es bueno para la pava"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another",
      "word": "aynı tas aynı hamam"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "one who treats others in a certain way should not complain about receiving the same treatment",
      "word": "ami az egyiknek szabad, szabad a másiknak is (legyen)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Euphues and his England",
    "John Heywood",
    "John Lyly"
  ],
  "word": "what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). 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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