9 Smart Serpentine Sayings for the Year of the Snake

Are you ready for a new Lunar Year? January 29^th officially marks the beginning of the Year of the Snake! According to the Chinese zodiac, people born in the Year of the Snake are highly intelligent and adaptable—but perhaps in a cunning, even sneaky way. That lines up with how we talk about snakes in the English language. We might call a duplicitous person a “snake in the grass,” as if they’ve been lying in wait to attack. A group of untrustworthy or dangerous people could be called “a nest of vipers.” 

Although it may not be fair to snakes themselves, you’ll find similar figures of speech in languages from around the world. Metaphorically, snakes often represent danger, deception, or even betrayal. Check out these idioms from different languages as we slither into a new year! 

French:  serpent (snakes in general), couleuvres (grass snake) 

Sometimes, you find yourself caught in a vicious cycle. If you sleep badly, you might not get much done the next day, which causes stress and anxiety, which means you get a poor night’s sleep yet again. When that happens, you could say, “C'est le serpent qui se mord la queue,” which means, “It’s the snake that bites his own tail.” A problem that feeds on itself could certainly be seen that way! Another expression, “Etre une langue de vipère,” or literally, "to be the tongue of a viper,” refers to anyone with a particularly sharp or “venemous” tongue! 

The French also have a particularly colorful expression about snakes that’s mainly used in journalism and politics today: “avaler des coulevres,” or “to swallow garter snakes/ grass snakes.” This is typically used to refer to someone, especially a political figure, who is forced into a humiliating situation or made to go along with a lie, perhaps agreeing to a compromise or policy that they don't support.  It’s a terrifying mental image that definitely conveys the discomfort of a public figure stuck in an unpleasant situation. Cricket eLearning French teacher Xavier provides these examples of the saying: 

• "The CEO had to swallow a garter snake when he was forced to apologize for the company's role in the scandal, despite not being directly responsible." 
• "The president had to swallow a garter snake during the debate when he had to defend a bill he personally opposed in order to maintain party unity." 

German: Schlange 

We’ve all encountered someone who would do anything or say anything to try to get out of trouble. German speakers might say that individual “sich winden wie eine Schlange,” or winds themselves like a snake. This type of unscrupulous person will go through all kinds of contortions to avoid unwanted consequences. An English equivalent might be to say someone is “as slippery as an eel.” 

Russian: змея (snake), уж (grass snake) 

There’s a Russian saying with a similar meaning to the German idiom above—but a far more graphic mental image! If someone is being figuratively “grilled” with tricky questions and they’re flailing around and tying themselves in knots to avoid consequences, you might say, they’re "как уж на сковородке,” or like a grass snake in a frying pan. We don’t think of snakes as being something you’d typically fry up for dinner, but there are also variations of this saying about eels, a more common food source. 

Italian: serpe  

It’s a parent or mentor’s worst nightmare to be betrayed by someone you raised or helped to success. Italians might say, “Allevare la serpe in seno,” or to raise a snake in your bosom. Imagine feeding and sheltering someone only to find out that they were an evil backstabber all along. It’s as if they’re a venomous snake who injures you as they feed off of you! Similarly, in English, William Shakespeare wrote this poignant line for King Lear: “How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!"  

Mandarin: 蛇 (shé) 

Don’t worry, we have an especially fun Mandarin idiom in honor of the Year of the Snake. Have you ever seen someone ruin what they’re doing by overdoing it or adding unnecessary details? In English, we might say they’re “gilding the lily.” In Mandarin, a similar expression is, “画蛇添足 (huà shé tiān zú).” This means “to draw a snake and add legs to it.” Since snakes don’t have legs, adding these unnecessary details would make a drawing of a snake worse, not better!  

Another creative saying with variations in numerous other languages is, “一 朝被蛇咬,十年怕井绳 (yī zhāo bèi shé yǎo , shí nián pà jǐng shéng).” This means, “Once bitten by a snake, ten years afraid of a well rope.” An English equivalent would be, “Once bitten, twice shy.” If you’d been bitten by a snake in the past, it might make sense to jump at the sight of a rope!

Portuguese: Cobra 

In Portuguese, the word “cobra” refers to all snakes, not just the ones that we English speakers would call by that name.  There’s a Brazilian Portuguese saying that goes, “a cobra vai fumar,” or, “when snakes smoke.” You’ve never seen a snake sneaking a cigarette, have you? The expression describes a situation that’s about to become very serious or problematic. During World War II, people used to joke that it was more likely for a snake to smoke than for Brazil to go to the front and fight. When the Brazilian Expeditionary Force did indeed take part in the fighting, they picked up the nickname “Cobras Fumantes” or “The Smoking Snakes!”  

Japanese- 蛇, へび (Hebi, da) 

We’re finishing off this list with an idiom that’s all too fitting for the change of the lunar year. A Japanese term for an anticlimax, something that starts off amazing but ends up disappointingly, is “竜頭蛇尾” or “Ryūtō dabi.” Literally, that translates to “Dragon head, snake tail.” If you saw the head of a dragon coming around the corner, you might prepare to be amazed… but if it only had a little six-inch snake tail, that wouldn’t be nearly as impressive, would it? Funnily enough, the Year of the Snake does directly follow the Year of the Dragon. Here’s hoping that 2025 won’t feel like the head of a dragon with the tail of a snake! 

For a more positive outlook on the new year, here’s another cool fact about the Year of the Snake in Japanese culture! While it isn’t anymore, the Japanese Kanji for “snake” used to be very similar to the kanji for “unborn baby.” This connection has led to a special meaning for the Year of the Snake, one of rebirth, reinvention, and “new life.” Maybe the Year of the Snake will be a fresh start for you! 

 Cricket eLearning offers online classes in more than 10 languages! Use the code BLOG10 for 10% off of prepaid packages for kids and adults!