- English translation
Let go of the taste still lingering from what you have eaten.
- Literal wording
What is in the taste of your teeth, leave it behind.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying uses the lingering taste in one’s teeth as an idiomatic image, not a literal instruction. It treats that aftertaste as the last remnant of something already gone and counsels ending one’s attachment rather than keeping the matter alive.
More broadly, it directs a person away from dwelling on what is no longer available. Its force is firm: remembering and longing for what has passed will not bring it back, so one should let go rather than continue to feed that wish.
- When it is used
Address someone who continues to dwell on something no longer within reach. The expression firmly urges them to move on, drawing on the idiomatic image of a taste lingering after food has been eaten; it is not a literal reference to the teeth.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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