kill two birds with one stone

English[edit]

kill two birds with one stone (third-person singular simple present kills two birds with one stone, present participle killing two birds with one stone, simple past and past participle killed two birds with one stone)

(idiomatic) To solve two problems with one single action.

Biking to work kills two birds with one stone. It saves money travelling and will help to lose weight.

solve two problems at once

Breton: lazhañ div voualc'h gant ur maen (br)
Bulgarian: (to kill two rabbits with one bullet) да убиеш с един куршум два заека (bg) (da ubieš s edin kuršum dva zaeka)
Chinese:

Mandarin: (one stone, two birds) 一石二鳥 (cmn), 一石二鸟 (cmn) (yī shí èr niǎo), 一箭雙雕 (cmn), 一箭双雕 (cmn) (yī jiàn shuāng diāo), 一舉兩得 (cmn), 一举两得 (cmn) (yī jǔ liǎng dé)
Czech: zabít dvě mouchy jednou ranou (cs)
Danish: (to hit two flies with one slap)) slå to fluer med et smæk (da)
Dutch: (to hit two flies in one slap) twee vliegen in één klap slaan (nl)
Esperanto: trafi du celojn per unu ŝtono (eo)
Estonian: (to kill two flies in one slap) tapma kaks kärbest ühe hoobiga (et)
Finnish: (to kill two flies in one slap) tappaa kaksi kärpästä yhdellä iskulla (fi)
French: faire d'une pierre deux coups (fr)
German: zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen (de)
Greek: (with one shot, two pigeons) με ένα σμπάρο δυο τρυγόνια (el) (me éna smpáro dyo trygónia)
Icelandic: (to hit two flies with one slap) slá tvær flugur í einu höggi (is)
Italian: (to catch two pigeons with one fava bean) prendere due piccioni con una fava (it)
Japanese: (one stone, two birds) 一石二鳥 (ja) (いっせきにちょう, isseki ni chō)
Kazakh: (to kill two birds with one shot) бір оқпен екі қоян ату (kk) (bir oqpen eki qoyan atw)