- English translation
A co-wife wishes her fellow wife nothing but ruin, until not even her footprints are left.
- Literal wording
The co-wife loves nothing for her co-wife except calamity and the cutting off of her trail.
- Meaning and lesson
In this traditional saying, a woman sharing her husband with another wife feels no real goodwill toward her rival. Her only wish is for some calamity to overtake the other woman and erase her completely, not merely harm her. The image rests on a stereotype of co-wife hostility and should not be taken as endorsing it.
Read more broadly, it portrays rivalry as total and unforgiving. When two people contend for the same place, small setbacks for the other do not satisfy; each wants the rival gone entirely, with no trace left behind.
- When it is used
Suits remarks on bitter rivalry between co-wives, or anyone competing for the same affection or position, where one supposedly wishes the other's utter downfall. Blunt and judgmental, and potentially demeaning to women, it fits wry commentary, not polite talk.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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