Don't count your chickens before they are hatched In english explanation

The meaning, explanation, definition and origin of the idiom/phrase "Don't count your chickens before they are hatched", English Idiom Dictionary ( also found in Vietnamese )

Lym Nguyen

2021-04-08 11:04

Meaning of Don't count your chickens before they are hatched

Synonyms:

Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch , Don't count chickens

Don't count your chickens before they are hatched negative

It can also be phrased as "don’t count your chickens before they hatch".

You should not make plans for things that depend on future events because they might not come true; Don't make sure or assume what you expect will definitely happen until it actually happens.

You should not make sure anything before you actually win the first prize. Don't count your chickens before they are hatched. Everything can happen.

Linda: I think the Corona pandemic will end soon so I intend to book a round-the-world tour. David: The situation is still complex. Don't count your chickens before they've hatched.

Alan: I have just made plans for what I would do after passing the university examination. Alex: You say as if you passed it. Don't count your chickens before they've hatched.

Other phrases about:

these things happen

This is the usual result of a certain situation. This happens a lot. It's a common scenario or situation. Used to tell somebody not to worry about something they have done

a cold day in July

A way of saying that something never or unlikely happens

not just yet

Not at this moment; probably soon

when pigs fly

Used to demonstrate things which never or unlikely happen.

look ahead to (something)

To consider or think about what will happen in the future

Origin of Don't count your chickens before they are hatched

When eggs hatch out, chicks will appear, nevertheless, not all eggs succeed in producing chicken. Therefore, this idiom wants to advise that we shouldn’t count the eggs before they actually hatch and assume that each egg will produce a chick. We should wait to count the actual chickens until they have hatched. This idiom originated from Aesop, a Greek fable writer living around 620 to 560 BC. In his fable “The Milkmaid and Her Pail”, there is a milkmaid that carries a pail of milk on her head and daydreams about selling the milk, then using the money earned from selling milk to buy chickens and becoming a rich girl thank to selling the eggs which are laid by chickens that she buy. She will be independent and own much money to have the right to refuse all the young men trying to chase her. However, in the fable she is so immersed in this daydream that she shakes her head and accidentally drops the milk, therefore she has no milk left to sell. It also means that her dream can not come true because she imagined it too soon and forgot the reality, which leads to ruin the success potential of her dream. This is the reason why "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched".