ugly duckling

WOTD – 27 October 2009    

English

Etymology

From a fairy tale of a duckling, considered ugly, that matures into a magnificent swan.

Noun

ugly duckling (plural ugly ducklings)

1. A young person who is ugly, but who is expected to become beautiful as they mature.

Translations

one who is ugly, but who is expected to become beautiful as they mature

• Bulgarian: грозно патенце (bg) (grozno patence) n
• Catalan: aneguet lleig m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 醜小鴨 (cmn), 丑小鸭 (cmn) (chǒuxiǎoyā)

• Czech: ošklivé káčátko (cs) n
• Danish: grim ælling (da) c
• Esperanto: malbela anasido (eo)
• Estonian: inetu pardipoeg (et)
• Finnish: ruma ankanpoikanen (fi)
• French: vilain petit canard (fr) m
• German: hässliches Entlein (de) n
• Greek: ασχημόπαπο (el) (aschimópapo) n

• Icelandic: Ijóti andarunginn (is) m
• Indonesian: itik buruk rupa (id)
• Italian: brutto anatroccolo (it) m
• Japanese: みにくいアヒルの子 (ja) (minikui ahiru no ko)
• Macedonian: грдо пајче (mk) (g'rdo pájče) n
• Polish: brzydkie kaczątko (pl) n
• Romanian: ratusca cea urata (ro) f
• Russian: гадкий утёнок (ru) (gádkij utjónok) m
• Slovak: škaredé kačiatko (sk) n
• Spanish: patito feo (es) m
• Swedish: ful ankunge (sv) c
• Turkish: çirkin ördek yavrusu (tr)