- English translation
Like a fistful of roasted green wheat, it won't stand for sharing.
- Literal wording
Like freekeh: it doesn't like a partner.
- Meaning and lesson
The picture is of a handful of green wheat freshly rubbed from the ear, fire-roasted, and eaten hot before any proper cooking. What fits in one palm is so little that splitting it would leave everyone with almost nothing, so the snack naturally belongs to whoever holds it.
From this the saying stretches two ways. It can describe anything whose value is too slight to divide among several people, or it can describe a person who prefers to keep something wholly for themselves and resists any partner in it.
- When it is used
Say it when a small portion, opportunity, or benefit could not survive being divided, or when teasing someone who refuses to share. Context decides which is meant. Applied to a person, it can sound like a mild charge of possessiveness, so tone matters.
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- Colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Like a fistful of roasted green wheat, it won't stand for sharing.