the straw that broke the camel's back

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Possibly from the proverb, recorded by Thomas Fuller in his Gnomologia as "Tis the last feather that breaks the horse's back." This comes from an Arab proverb about loading up a camel beyond its capacity to move, to the scenario of a single straw of grass or hay overwhelming the desert-roaming beast of burden.

Noun

the straw that broke the camel’s back

1. (idiomatic) A small and seemingly insignificant addition to a burden that renders it too much to bear; the small thing which causes failure, or causes inability or unwillingness to endure any more of something.
   • 1848. Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son:

     As the last straw breaks the laden camel's back.

Derived terms

• final straw
• last straw

Translations

The small additional burden which causes failure

Arabic: القشة التي قصمت ظهر البعير (ar) (al-qáshsha allati qáSamat Zahr al-bi3iir) (literal translation) Catalan: la gota que fa vessar el vas (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 壓倒駱駝的最後一根草 (cmn), 压倒骆驼的最后一根草 (cmn) (yādǎo luòtuó de zuìhòu yī gēn cǎo) Croatian: kap koja je prelila čašu (hr) Dutch: de druppel die de emmer deed overlopen (nl) n. Finnish: korsi, joka katkaisee kamelin selän (fi) French: la goutte d’eau qui fait déborder le vase (fr) (the drop of water that makes the vase overflow) German: der Tropfen, der das Fass zum Überlaufen bringt (de)

Italian: la goccia che fa traboccare il vaso (it) (the drop of water that makes the glass overflow) Polish: kropla, która przepełnia czarę (pl) Portuguese: a gota que transbordou o copo (pt) (the drop that spills over the glass) Romanian: picătura care a umplut paharul (the drop that makes the glass overflow) Russian: капля, переполнившая чашу (ru) (káplja, perepólnivšaja čášu) f. (the drop that made the bowl overflow) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ка̑п ко̀ја̄ је прѐлила ча̏шу (sh) f. Roman: kȃp kòjā je prèlila čȁšu (sh) f. Spanish: la gota que colmó el vaso (es), ser la gota que colma el vaso (es) Swedish: droppen som fick bägaren att rinna över (sv) c.