don't count your chickens before they're hatched

English

Alternative forms

• don't count your chickens before they hatch, don't count your chickens before the eggs have hatched

Etymology

First attested in English in Thomas Howell's 1570 New Sonnets and Pretty Pamphlets in the couplet "Counte not thy Chickens that vnhatched be, / Waye wordes as winde, till thou finde certaintee", possibly deriving from similar medieval and early modern Latin fables and maxims.

Proverb

don't count your chickens before they're hatched

1. One should not depend upon a favorable (and typically overoptimistic) outcome to one's plans until it is certain to occur.

   Synonyms: don't get your hopes up, don't sell the skin till you have caught the bear

   • [1663, [Samuel Butler], “The Second Part of Hudibras”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, canto III, page 175:

     [...] Make Fools believe in their fore-seeing / Of things before they are in Being; / To swallow Gudgeons ere th' are catch'd, / And count their Chickens ere th' are hatch'd, [...]]

Translations

one should not depend upon a favorable outcome to one's plans until it is certain to occur

• Afrikaans: moenie die beer se vel verkoop voordat hy geskiet is nie (literally “don't sell the bear's pelt before he has been shot”)
• Albanian: peshku në det, tigani në zjarr (literally “don't put the pan on fire, while fish is still at sea”)
• Arabic: لَا تَشْتَرِي ٱلسَّمَكَ وَهُوَ فِي ٱلْبَحْرِ بَلِ ٱنْتَظِرْ حَتَّى يُصْطَادَ‎ (lā taštarī s-samaka wahuwa fī l-baḥri bali ntaẓir ḥattā yuṣṭāda)
• Catalan: no diguis blat fins que no sigui al sac i ben lligat
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (勿打)如意算盤／(勿打)如意算盘 (wù dǎ rúyìsuànpán), (別)一廂情願／一厢情愿 (zh) (bié yīxiāngqíngyuàn), (別做)白日夢／(别做)白日梦 (bié zuò báirìmèng)

• Czech: neříkej hop, dokud nepřeskočíš (literally “do not say "hop" until you have leapt over”), nechval dne před večerem (cs)
• Danish: pels ikke bjørnen før den er skudt (literally “Don't skin the bear before it's shot”)
• Dutch: de huid niet verkopen voor de beer geschoten is (nl)
• Esperanto: la manĝota fiŝo estas ankoraŭ en la rivero (literally “the fish that will be eaten is still in the river”)
• Finnish: älä nuolaise ennen kuin tipahtaa (literally “don't lick before it drops”), älä nylje karhua ennen kuin se on kaadettu
• French: il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tué (fr) (literally “don't sell the bearskin before you have killed it”)
• Friulian: no stâ vendi le piel dal ors prime di vêlu copât
• German: man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben (de) (literally “one should not praise the day before the evening”) (common, but slightly different sense), man soll das Fell des Bären nicht verteilen, bevor er erlegt ist (de) (literally “one should not distribute the fur of the bear before it has been killed”)
• Hindi: सूत न कपास जुलाहों में लट्ठम-लट्ठा (sūt na kapās julāhõ mẽ laṭṭham-laṭṭhā, literally “the string has no cotton [but] the weavers are fighting”)
• Hungarian: ne igyál előre a medve bőrére (hu), nyugtával dicsérd a napot
• Icelandic: hrósa happi of snemma (literally “count one's chickens before they're hatched”), ekki er sopið kálið þótt í ausuna sé komið (literally “the cabbage isn't in the mouth though it is in the ladle”), ekki er sopið kálið þó í ausuna sé komið (literally “the cabbage isn't in the mouth though it is in the ladle”), fyrr skal fuglinn veiddur en steiktur (literally “the bird shall be caught before it's cooked”)
• Italian: non dire gatto se non ce l'hai nel sacco (literally “don't say cat if you don't have it in the bag”)
• Japanese: 捕らぬ狸の皮算用 (ja) (toranu tanuki no kawazan'yō, literally “counting the skins of uncaught raccoon dogs”)
• Korean: 김칫국부터 마시지 마라 (gimchitgukbuteo masiji mara, literally “don’t drink the kimchi soup first”)
• Latin: ante victoriam ne canas triumphum (literally “don't sing triumphs before the victory”)
• Lithuanian: viščiukus skaičiuoja vakarais
• Maori: kāti te toitoi okewa. (Don’t talk success in hunting (before it has happened)), Ahakoa iti te koutu whenua e kore e taea te parepare. (Although it’s only a small promontory it cannot be defended.)
• Navajo: tʼáadoo danitʼání íítiʼ (literally “snap off ears of corn before they are ripe”)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: selge skinnet før bjørnen er skutt (no)

• Persian: جوجه رو آخر پاییز می شمارند‎
• Polish: nie dziel skóry na niedźwiedziu (literally “don't divide the pelt of the bear not yet killed”), nie chwal dnia przed zachodem słońca (pl) (literally “don't praise the day before sunset”), nie mów hop, póki nie przeskoczysz (pl) (literally "don't say hop until you jump")
• Portuguese: não conte com o ovo dentro da galinha (literally “don't count on the egg inside the chicken”), não conte com o ovo antes da galinha botar (literally “don't count on the egg before the chicken lays [it]”)
• Romanian: toamna se numără bobocii (literally “count the ducklings in autumn”), nu vinde blana ursului din pădure (literally “don't sell the pelt of the bear in the forest”), nu zice hop până nu ai sărit (literally “don't say "hop" until you jumped over”)
• Russian: цыпля́т по о́сени счита́ют (cyplját po óseni sčitájut, literally “count chicks in autumn”), не дели́ шку́ру неуби́того медве́дя (ne delí škúru neubítovo medvédja, literally “don't divide the pelt of the bear not yet killed”), не говори́ «гоп», пока́ не перепры́гнешь (ne govorí “gop”, poká ne pereprýgnešʹ, literally “don't say "hop" until you jumped over”)
• Sanskrit: अजातपुत्रनामोत्कीर्तन (ajātputranāmotkīrtan, literally “chanting the name of an unborn son”)
• Scottish Gaelic: na h-abair diug a choidhche ris an eun gus an dig e às an ugh (literally “don't say 'here chick chick' to the bird until he's hatched from the egg”)
• Spanish: no vendas la piel del oso antes de cazarlo, hasta el rabo, todo es toro, no echar las campanas al vuelo
• Sranan Tongo: no kosi kaiman mama fosi yu abra liba (literally “don't curse the caiman's mother until you've crossed the river”)
• Swedish: sälj inte skinnet innan björnen är skjuten, ta inte ut segern i förskott
• Telugu: ఆలు లేదు, చూలు లేదు, కొడుకు పేరు సోమలింగము (ālu lēdu, cūlu lēdu, koḍuku pēru sōmaliṅgamu, literally “no wife, no pregnancy, [yet] the son is named Somalingam”)
• Ukrainian: не хвали́ день до ве́чора (ne xvalý denʹ do véčora, literally “don't praise the day until the evening”), хвали́ день уве́чері, а життя́ пе́ред сме́ртю (xvalý denʹ uvéčeri, a žyttjá péred smértju, literally “praise the day in the evening, and life before death”)
• Walloon: i n' fåt nén vinde l' oû k' est co e cou del poye (wa)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: mach keine Milchmädchenrechnung auf (literally “don’t make a milkmaid’s calculation”)

See also

• it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

Further reading

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, →ISBN, p. 63.
• Jennifer Speake, ed., Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, 6th ed., 2015, →ISBN, p. 60.