口に蜜あり腹に剣あり

Japanese

Kanji in this term
口	蜜	腹	剣
くち Grade: 1	みつ Grade: S	はら Grade: 6	けん Grade: S
kun’yomi	goon	kun’yomi	kan’on

Alternative spelling
口に蜜あり腹に劍あり (kyūjitai)

Etymology

Literally, "where there is a mouth of honey, there is a sword in the belly." Calque of Literary Chinese 口密腹劍.

Proverb

口(くち)に蜜(みつ)あり腹(はら)に剣(けん)あり • (kuchi ni mitsu ari hara ni ken ari) 

1. Beneath sweet words lurks venom.

References

• The Kōjien (広辞苑) Dictionary of the Japanese Language, 5th edition, Iwanami Shoten Publishing, Tokyo.