dead men tell no tales

English

Alternative forms

• dead men can tell no tales

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛd mɛn tɛl nəʊ teɪlz/

Proverb

dead men tell no tales

1. A dead person can no longer reveal information, especially information which others wish to keep secret.

Usage notes

• Sometimes used to indicate a motive for murder.

Translations

a dead person can no longer reveal information

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 死無對證／死无对证 (zh) (sǐwúduìzhèng)

• Czech: mrtví muži nic neřeknou
• Esperanto: la mortintoj ne atestas
• Finnish: kuolleet eivät tiedä mitään
• French: les morts ne parlent pas
• Galician: home morto non dá fala, home morto non fala
• German: Tote reden nicht
• Greek: οι νεκροί δεν λένε παραμύθια (oi nekroí den léne paramýthia)
• Italian: i morti non parlano
• Japanese: 死人に口無し (しにんにくちなし, shinin ni kuchi nashi)
• Korean: 죽은 자는 말이 없다 (jugeun janeun mar-i eopda)
• Polish: martwi głosu nie mają
• Portuguese: mortos não falam
• Russian: мёртвые не болта́ют (mjórtvyje ne boltájut)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мртва уста не говоре

  Roman: mrtva usta ne govore

• Spanish: los muertos no hablan
• Ukrainian: ме́ртві бджо́ли не гуду́ть (mértvi bdžóly ne hudútʹ, literally “dead bees do not buzz”)

See also

• silent as the grave