ProverbHub
Arabic · Arabic scriptProverb: Verified

«خَبْطِتِينْ فِي الرَّاسْ تِوْجَعْ»

Meanings

Each meaning is reviewed on its own.

Meaning: Verified
English translation

Two blows to the head are painful.

Literal wording

Two knocks on the head hurt.

Meaning and lesson

Read at face value, the saying observes that being struck on the head twice brings pain, and its image is built on repetition: the hurt is tied to blows that come more than once. Taking the blows as recurring trouble or misfortune is a plausible extension of the image, but it remains an interpretation rather than a settled sense.

The wording is colloquial. Khabṭitēn is the dual of khabṭa, a knock or blow, and rās is the everyday form of the word for head. A parallel version uses ḍarbitēn, another word for blows, keeping the same structure and the same core image.

When it is used

Fits remarks about something painful striking a second time. A broader application to repeated hardship is possible if the figurative reading is intended. The dialect wording gives it an everyday conversational tone rather than a formal one.

Register
colloquial
Cite or copy proverb

How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.

Report an issue with this meaning: Two blows to the head are painful.