English
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 based off similar medieval and early modern Latin fables and maxims.
Proverb
don't count your chickens before they're hatched
- One should not depend upon a favorable (and typically overoptimistic) outcome to one's plans until it is certain to occur.
Synonyms
Translations
don't count on things if you don't have them yet
- 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: لا تشتري السمك وهو في البحر بل انتظر حتى يصطاد
- 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, (勿打)如意算盘 (wù dǎ rúyìsuànpán), (別)一廂情願／一厢情愿 (zh) (yīxiāngqíngyuàn), 一厢情愿 (zh) (bié yīxiāngqíngyuàn), (別做)白日夢／(别做)白日梦, (别做)白日梦 (bié zuò báirìmèng)
- Czech: neříkej hop, dokud nepřeskočíš (literally “do not say "hop" until you have leapt over”)
- 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: mach keine Milchmädchenrechnung auf (literally “don't calculate like the milkmaid”) (not all too common); man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben (de) (literally “don't call it a good day before the evening”) (common, but slightly different sense), Man soll das Fell des Bären nicht verteilen, bevor er erlegt ist.
- Hungarian: ne igyál előre a medve bőrére (hu)
- (deprecated template usage)
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- 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 kawazanyō, literally “counting the skins of uncaught raccoon dogs”)
- Korean: 김칫국부터 마시지 마라 (gimchitgugbuteo masiji mala, literally “don’t drink the kimchi soup first”)
- Latin: ante victoriam ne canas triumphum (literally “don't sing triumphs before the victory”)
- Maori: kāti te toitoi okewa
- Navajo: tʼáadoo danitʼání íítiʼ (literally “snap off ears of corn before they are ripe”)
- Norwegian: ikke selg skinnet før bjørnen er skutt
- 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”)
- 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]”)
- 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”)
- Scottish Gaelic: na h-abair diug a choidhche ris an eun gus an dig e ás 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
- Swedish: (please verify) sälj inte skinnet innan björnen är skjuten, (please verify) ta inte ut segern i förskott (literally “don't sell the pelt before the bear is shot”)
- Walloon: i n' fåt nén vinde l' oû k' est co e cou del poye (wa)
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See also
References
- 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.
