you can't judge a book by its cover

English

Alternative forms

• you can’t tell a book by its cover
• don’t judge a book by its cover

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Proverb

you can't judge a book by its cover

1. (idiomatic, figurative) It is not possible to make reliable judgments about things or people by considering external appearances alone.

Synonyms

• clothes don't make the man

Antonyms

• fine feathers make fine birds

Translations

it is not possible to judge things by external appearances alone

• Arabic: لَا يُمْكِنُك الْحُكْمُ عَلَى كِتَابِ مِِنْ غِلَافِهِ (lā yumkinuk al-ḥukmu ʕalā kitābi miin ḡilāfihi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 人不可貌相 (zh) (bùyào yǐmàoqǔrén)

• Danish: sku ikke hunden på hårene
• Finnish: ei ole koiraa karvoihin katsominen (fi)
• French: l’habit ne fait pas le moine (fr), il ne faut pas se fier pas aux apparences
• Greek: τα φαινόμενα απατούν (ta fainómena apatoún), το ράσο δεν κάνει τον παπά (to ráso den kánei ton papá)
• Hebrew: אַל תִּסְתַּכֵּל בַּקַּנְקַן אֶלָּא בַמֶּה שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ (he) (ál tistakél baqanqán, éla bamé sheyésh bó)
• Hindi: जाति ना पूछो साधु की; पूछ लीजिए ज्ञान (jāti nā pūcho sādhu kī; pūch lījie jñān)
• Italian: l'abito non fa il monaco, non giudicare un libro dalla copertina, non giudicare dalle apparenze
• Japanese: 看板に偽りなし
• Lithuanian: nespręsk apie knygą iš viršelio
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: man kan ikke dømme boken etter omslaget, man skal aldri skue hunden på hårene
• Portuguese: não se pode julgar um livro pela capa
• Romanian: nu haina face pe om
• Russian: не суди́ о кни́ге по обло́жке (ne sudí o kníge po oblóžke)
• Scottish Gaelic: 's tric a bhios cridhe gheal ann an seiche dhonn
• Serbo-Croatian: ne sudi knjizi po koricama
• Slovene: ne sodi knjige po platnicah
• Spanish: el hábito no hace al monje
• Swedish: man skall inte döma hunden efter håren , man ska inte döma boken efter omslaget
• Tagalog: mapanlinlang ang panlabas na anyo
• Turkish: hayvanın alacası dışında, insanın alacası içinde
• Urdu: ذات نہ پوچھو سادھو کی؛ پوچھ لیجئے علم (zāt nā pūcho sādhu kī; pūch lījie ilm)