crocodile tear

English

Etymology

From the ancient belief that crocodiles shed tears while consuming their prey.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɒ.kə.daɪl ˌtɪə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɑ.kə.daɪl ˌtɪɹ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

crocodile tear (plural crocodile tears)

1. (idiomatic) A tear shed insincerely, in a false display of sorrow or some other emotion.
   • 1877, Charles Reade, chapter 2, in A Woman-Hater‎^[1]:

     At last he contrived to squeeze out one of his little hysterical tears, and drop it on her hand. Now, the girl was not butter, like some of her sex; far from it: but neither was she wood—indeed, she was not old enough for that—so this crocodile tear won her for the time being.

2. (idiomatic, in the plural) A display of tears that is forced or false.
   • 1864, Anthony Trollope, chapter 19, in Can You Forgive Her?:

     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

tear shed falsely

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: llàgrima de cocodril f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鱷魚的眼淚／鳄鱼的眼泪 (zh) (èyú de yǎnlèi)

• Czech: krokodýlí slza f
• Danish: krokodilletåre c
• Faroese: rossatár n, krokodillutár n
• Finnish: krokotiilinkyynel
• French: larmes de crocodile (fr) f pl
• German: Krokodilsträne (de) f
• Hungarian: krokodilkönny (hu)
• Irish: deoir bhréag f, deoir bhréagach f
• Latin: lacrimula f
• Malayalam: മുതലക്കണ്ണീർ (mutalakkaṇṇīṟ)
• Persian: اشک تمساح (ašk-e temsâh)
• Portuguese: lágrima de crocodilo f
• Russian: крокоди́лова слеза́ f (krokodílova slezá)
• Scottish Gaelic: deur nam breug m
• Slovak: krokodília slza f
• Spanish: lágrimas de cocodrilo (es) f
• Swedish: krokodiltår (sv) c
• Tagalog: luha ng buwaya
• Welsh: deigryn crocodeil m

display of tears that is forced or false

• Arabic: دُمُوع اَلتَّمَاسِيح m pl (dumūʕ at-tamāsīḥ)
• Armenian: կոկորդիլոսի արցունքներ (kokordilosi arcʻunkʻner)
• Catalan: llàgrimes de cocodril f pl
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: krokodýlí slzy f pl
• Danish: krokodilletårer c pl
• Dutch: krokodillentranen (nl) f pl
• Finnish: krokotiilinkyyneleet pl
• French: larmes de crocodile (fr) f pl
• Galician: bágoas de crocodilo f pl, lágrimas de crocodilo f pl
• German: Krokodilstränen (de) f pl
• Greek: κροκοδείλια δάκρυα (el) n pl (krokodeília dákrya)
• Hebrew: דִּמְעוֹת תַּנִּין (he) f pl (dim'ót tanín)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: krokodilkönnyek (hu) pl
• Icelandic: hræsnistár n pl, krókódílstár n pl, uppgerðarhryggð f
• Indonesian: air mata buaya
• Irish: deoir bhréag f, deoir bhréagach f
• Italian: lacrime di coccodrillo f pl
• Japanese: 嘘泣き (ja) (うそなき, usonaki)
• Korean: 악어의 눈물 (ageo-ui nunmul)
• Lithuanian: krokodilo ašaros f pl
• Maori: tangi kurī
• Norwegian: krokodilletårer m pl
• Persian: اشک تمساح (ašk-e temsâh)
• Polish: krokodyle łzy (pl) f pl
• Portuguese: lágrimas de crocodilo (pt) f pl
• Romansch: larmas da crocodil f pl
• Russian: крокоди́ловы слёзы f pl (krokodílovy sljózy)
• Scottish Gaelic: deòir nam breugan m pl
• Spanish: lágrimas de cocodrilo (es) f pl
• Swedish: krokodiltårar (sv) c pl
• Telugu: మొసలి కన్నీళ్లు (te) (mosali kannīḷlu), మొసలికన్నీరు (te) (mosalikannīru)
• Turkish: timsah gözyaşları
• Ukrainian: крокодиля́чі сльо́зи (uk) f pl (krokodyljáči slʹózy)
• Welsh: dagrau crocodeil m pl, wylofain crocodeil m

See also

• artificial tear
• hypocrisy
• insincerity
• turn on the waterworks

 

Further reading

• crocodile tears on Wikipedia.Wikipedia