where there's smoke, there's fire

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Proverb

where there's smoke, there's fire

1. (UK, US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) If there is a hint of something occurring, it is probably true, although such rumors should be taken with a grain of salt.
2. (humorous) All rumors are true.
4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: A sighting of smoke means that fire is not only possible but rather probable, nearly certain.

Related terms

• no smoke without fire

Translations

if there is a hint of something occurring it could indeed be true, but rumors should be handled with skepticism

• Arabic: لَا دُخَانَ بِلَا نَار (lā duḵāna bilā nār), أَيْنَمَا يُوجَدُ دُخَانٌ، تُوجَدُ نَار (ʔaynamā yūjadu duḵānun, tūjadu nār)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無風不起浪 / 无风不起浪 (zh) (wú fēng bù qǐ làng)

• Czech: na každém šprochu pravdy trochu (cs)
• Dutch: waar rook is is vuur
• French: il n’y a pas de fumée sans feu (fr)
• German: wo Rauch ist, ist auch Feuer (de)
• Hebrew: אֵין עָשָׁן בְּלִי אֵשׁ (he) (ēn 'ashán bli esh)
• Japanese: 火のないところに煙は立たない (ja) (hi no nai tokoro ni kemuri wa tatanai)
• Korean: 아니 땐 굴뚝에 연기 나랴 (ani ttaen gulttuge yeon'gi narya)
• Portuguese: onde há fumaça, há fogo (pt) (Brazil), onde há fumo, há fogo (Portugal)
• Russian: нет ды́ма без огня́ (ru) (net dýma bez ognjá)
• Swedish: ingen rök utan eld
• Tagalog: kapag may usok, may apoy
• Turkish: ateş olmayan yerden duman çıkmaz (tr)

See also

• cockroach theory
• smouldering
• where's the fire