Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

don't look a gift horse in the mouth

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.29 in modern English

Syllables
don't look a gift horse in the -mouth
IPA
48
Scrabble Score
28
Letters
2
Syllables
16
Unique Chars

Meaning

proverb

One should not unappreciatively question or inspect a gift too closely.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Calque from Latin expressions such as equi dentes inspicere donati (“to inspect the teeth of a provided horse”) in St. Jerome's c. 400 Preface to the Commentaries of the Letter to the Ephesians (Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Ephesios Libri Tres), which designates it as a "common proverb" (vulgare proverbium). The ultimate referrent is inspection of horses' teeth as a way of ascertaining their age and value.

Inflected Forms

never look a gift horse in the mouth (alternative)

Phrases

long in the tooth straight from the horse's mouth Trojan horse

Frequently Paired Words

long in the tooth straight from the horse's mouth Trojan horse

Synonyms

beggars can't be choosers something is better than nothing a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

Questions

What does don't look a gift horse in the mouth mean?
One should not unappreciatively question or inspect a gift too closely.
Where does don't look a gift horse in the mouth come from?
Calque from Latin expressions such as equi dentes inspicere donati (“to inspect the teeth of a provided horse”) in St. Jerome's c. 400 Preface to the Commentaries of the Letter to the Ephesians (Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Ephesios Libri Tres), which designates it as a "common proverb" (vulgare proverbium). The ultimate referrent is inspection of horses' teeth as a way of ascertaining their age and value.

How to pronounce don't look a gift horse in the mouth

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