curiosity killed the cat

English

A curious cat exploring the inside of a domestic appliance.

Alternative forms

care killed the cat

Proverb

curiosity killed the cat

One should not be curious about things that can be dangerous.

Coordinate terms

nine lives

Translations

undue curiosity is dangerous

Arabic: الْفُضُولُ قَتَلَ الْقِطَّ (al-fuḍūlu qatala l-qiṭṭa)
Armenian: հետաքրքրասիրությունը սպանեց կատվին (hetakʻrkʻrasirutʻyunə spanecʻ katvin)
Catalan: la curiositat va matar el gat
Chinese:
Mandarin: 好奇害死貓／好奇害死猫 (zh) (hàoqí hàisǐ māo)
Czech: nebuď zvědavej, budeš brzo starej
Danish: nysgerrighed slog smedens kat ihjel
Dutch: please add this translation if you can
Estonian: uudishimu tappis kassi
Finnish: uteliaisuus tappoi kissan
French: la curiosité est un vilain défaut (fr) (literally “curiosity is a bad thing”)
German: Neugier ist der Katze Tod
Greek: η περιέργεια σκότωσε τη γάτα (el) (i periérgeia skótose ti gáta)
Hebrew: הַסַּקְרָנוּת הָרְגָה אֶת הֶחָתוּל (he) (ha-sakranút hargá et he-khatúl)
Hungarian: aki kíváncsi, hamar megöregszik (hu)
Irish: fios a mharaigh an cat
Italian: tanto va la gatta al lardo, che ci lascia lo zampino, la curiosità uccise il gatto, (rare) la troppa curiosità spinge l'uccello nella rete
Macedonian: љубопитноста ја убила мачката (ljubopitnosta ja ubila mačkata)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: nysgjerrighet drepte katten, nysgjerrig høne får enten korn eller knuff (literally “the curious chicken gets either corn or beatings”)
Polish: ciekawy kot do studni wpadł (literally “the curious cat fell into the well”), ciekawość to pierwszy stopień do piekła (pl) (literally “curiosity is the first step to hell”)
Portuguese: a curiosidade matou o gato
Romanian: curioșii mor repede (literally “curious people die quickly”)
Russian: любопы́тной Ва́рваре на база́ре нос оторва́ли (ru) (ljubopýtnoj Várvare na bazáre nos otorváli), мно́го бу́дешь знать — ско́ро соста́ришься (mnógo búdešʹ znatʹ — skóro sostárišʹsja), ме́ньше зна́ешь — кре́пче спишь (ménʹše znáješʹ — krépče spišʹ), (rare) от любопы́тства ко́шка сдо́хла (ot ljubopýtstva kóška sdóxla)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: радо̀знало̄ст је убила мачку

Roman: radòznalōst je ubila mačku
Spanish: la curiosidad mató al gato (es)
Swedish: nyfiken i en strut
Tagalog: ang sobra-sobrang pag-usisa ay delikado (literally “too much curiosity is dangerous”)
Welsh: busnesa a laddodd y gath

References

Gregory Y. Titelman (1996) Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, →ISBN, page 48

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