猿も木から落ちる

Japanese
Kanji in this term
猿 木 落
さる
Grade: S		 き
Grade: 1		 お
Grade: 3
kun’yomi

Alternative forms

Etymology

Phrase consisting of 猿 (saru, “monkey”) + も (mo, “even, also”) + 木 (ki, “tree”) + から (kara, “from”) + 落ちる (ochiru, “fall”).[1][2][3] Literally “even monkeys fall from trees”.

Pronunciation
  • Kun’yomi
    • IPA(key): [sa̠ɾɯ̟ᵝ mo̞ kʲi ka̠ɾa̠ o̞t͡ɕiɾɯ̟ᵝ]

Proverb

猿も木から落ちる (hiragana さるもきからおちる, rōmaji saru mo ki kara ochiru)

  1. even experts occasionally make mistakes: even Homer nods, a horse may stumble though he has four legs

Synonyms
  • 上 (じょう)手 (ず)の手 (て)から水 (みず)が漏 (も)れる (jōzu no te kara mizu ga moreru, “water leaks [even] from skilled hands”)
  • 河 (かっ)童 (ぱ)の川流 (かわなが)れ (kappa no kawanagare, “a water-imp's getting washed away by the river”)
  • 弘 (こう)法 (ぼう)にも筆 (ふで)の誤 (あやま)り (kōbō ni mo fude no ayamari, “there are brush mistakes even with Kūkai [a master calligrapher]”)

References
  1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
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