crocodile tears

WOTD – 19 September 2009    

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈkɹɒkədaɪlˌtɪəz/
• (US) IPA: /ˈkɹɑkədaɪlˌtɪɹz/

Noun

crocodile tears

1. Plural form of crocodile tear
2. (idiomatic) A display of tears that is forced or false.
   • 1864, Anthony Trollope, Can You Forgive Her?, chapter 19:

     And in all her letters since, she had spoken of her aunt as a silly, vain, worldly woman, weeping crocodile tears, for an old husband whose death had released her from the tedium of his company.

Translations

display of tears that is forced or false

• Arabic: دموع التماسيح (ar) (dumūʾ al-tamāsīḥ) m pl
• Armenian: կոկորդիլոսի արցունքներ (hy) (kokordilosi arc’unk’ner)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貓哭耗子假慈悲 (cmn), 猫哭耗子假慈悲 (cmn) (māo kū hàozi jiǎ cíbēi), 貓哭耗子 (cmn), 猫哭耗子 (cmn) (māo kū hàozi), 假慈悲 (cmn), 假慈悲 (cmn) (jiǎ cíbēi), 鱷魚的眼淚 (cmn), 鳄鱼的眼泪 (cmn) (èyú de yǎnlèi)

• Czech: krokodýlí slzy (cs) f pl
• Danish: krokodilletårer (da) c pl
• Dutch: krokodillentranen (nl) f pl
• Finnish: krokotiilinkyyneleet (fi)
• French: larmes de crocodile (fr) pl
• German: Krokodilstränen (de) pl
• Greek: κροκοδείλια δάκρυα (el) (krokodeília dákrya) n pl
• Hungarian: krokodilkönnyek (hu)

• Icelandic: hræsnistár (is) n pl, krókódílstár (is) n pl, uppgerðarhryggð (is) f
• Italian: lacrime di coccodrillo (it) f pl
• Japanese: 嘘泣き (ja) (うそなき, usonaki)
• Korean: 악어의 눈물 (ko) (akeo-ui nunmul)
• Lithuanian: krokodilo ašaros (lt) f pl
• Norwegian: krokodilletårer (no) m pl
• Polish: krokodyle łzy (pl) f pl
• Portuguese: lágrimas de crocodilo (pt) f pl
• Romansch: larmas da crocodil (rm) f pl
• Russian: крокодиловы слёзы (ru) (krokodílovy sljózy) f pl
• Scottish Gaelic: deòir nam breugan (gd) f pl
• Spanish: lágrimas de cocodrilo (es) f pl
• Swedish: krokodiltårar (sv) c pl
• Telugu: మొసలి కన్నీళ్లు (te) (mosali kannILLu)

plural of crocodile tear — see crocodile tear

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

See also

• insincerity
• hypocrisy