- English translation
Like a pot on the waterwheel, strung up by the neck and by the foot.
- Literal wording
Like the pots of the waterwheel: hanged by his neck and his leg.
- Meaning and lesson
The image comes from the clay pots fixed around a waterwheel over a well. Each pot is lashed by a rope at the two handles near its mouth and again at the small knob on its base, so it stays firmly in place as the wheel turns, held tight at both ends.
Applied to one person, likened to any single pot on the wheel, the comparison describes someone hemmed in on every side by ties and obstacles. Calling the pot 'hanged' by neck and leg describes how it is fastened, not an execution, yet adds a grim, wry touch: bound at top and bottom, with no loose end.
- When it is used
Use it to describe someone so tied down by obligations, restrictions, or attachments that they cannot act or move freely, for example a person caught between family duties, debts, and work demands with no room left to maneuver.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Like a pot on the waterwheel, strung up by the neck and by the foot.