birds of a feather

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

birds of a feather pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic) People having similar characters, backgrounds, interests, or beliefs.
   • c1710, Jonathan Swift, "A Conference," lines 11-12,

     And since we're so near, like birds of a feather,

     Let's e'en, as they say, set our horses together.

   • 1876, Anthony Trollope, chapter 51, in The Prime Minister:

     Birds of a feather do fall out sometimes.

   • 1951 May 21, “As Bad or Worse?”, in Time:

     Paul Blanshard has two bogeymen of almost equal fearsomeness: one dwells in the Kremlin, the other in the Vatican.... Blanshard has satisfied himself that Stalin and the Pope are pretty much birds of a feather.

   We're snuggled up together like two birds of a feather would be.

Related terms

• birds of a feather flock together
• birds-of-a-feather session

Translations

people having similar characters

• Azerbaijani: bir yuvanın quşu (of negative characteristics)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (people of the same kind) 同類的人／同类的人 (tónglèi de rén), (derogatory) 一丘之貉 (zh) (yīqiūzhīhé, literally “goods of the same road”), (colloquial) 一路貨／一路货 (zh) (yīlùhuò)

• Finnish: samanlaiset
• French: bonnet blanc, blanc bonnet (fr), kif-kif (fr)
• German: Leute vom gleichen Schlag pl, Gleichgesinnte (de) pl, aus demselben Holz geschnitzt
• Irish: bráithre aon cheirde m pl
• Italian: due gocce d'acqua (literally “two drops of water”)
• Japanese: 同類 (ja) (どうるい, dōrui)
• Korean: 동류(同類) (dongnyu)
• Russian: одного поля ягоды (ru) (odnovo polja jagody, literally “berries from the same field”)
• Spanish: Dios los cría y ellos se juntan (es)
• Swedish: lika barn (sv), kålsupare (sv) c

References

• "birds of a feather" in the Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.