ProverbHub
Arabic · Arabic scriptProverb: Verified

«اِلْقَشَلْ خُزَامِ الْعَنْتِيلْ»

Meanings

Each meaning is reviewed on its own.

Meaning: Verified
English translation

Nothing tames an arrogant bully like going broke.

Literal wording

Bankruptcy is the nose-ring of the overbearing brute.

Meaning and lesson

The proverb claims that financial ruin humbles a haughty, domineering bully more effectively than anything else. Just as a cord or pin set through a camel's nostril lets it be led and forced to obey, losing one's means makes the overbearing tyrant lower his head and submit.

It also implies that such arrogance often rests on money and the power it buys. Once the resources disappear, the bluster goes with them. The saying can serve as a moral observation about pride and wealth, or as a remark on someone whose haughtiness collapsed with their fortune.

When it is used

Apply it when a domineering, arrogant person has been brought low by losing their money, or to suggest that someone's swagger rests on wealth that could vanish. It comments on the forced humbling of the overbearing rather than describing ordinary hardship.

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