«الطِّينَهْ مِنِ الطِّينَهْ وِاللَّتَّهْ مِنِ الْعَجِينَهْ»

The saying holds that whatever is taken from a material keeps the nature of that material. A piece of clay is still clay, and a portion pulled from dough is still dough. One variant swaps the dough image for mud filler pressed into a wall's gaps, with the same point.

Applied to people, it explains a resemblance by pointing to origins: children carry the qualities of their family, for better or worse. It can also mark any close likeness between two things that share a common source, without necessarily judging that likeness.

Say it when someone or something plainly shares the character of its source, most often a child who takes after parents or relatives. It fits praise or reproach equally, so the speaker's tone and the trait under discussion decide whether it compliments or criticizes.