separate the wheat from the chaff

English

Alternative forms

• sort the wheat from the chaff, winnow the wheat from the chaff, winnow grain from chaff

Etymology

The figurative sense is by extension from the literal sense, which is threshing. Because threshing has been an important activity for humans for thousands of years, it is well represented both in folk wisdom and (relatedly) in the bible; for example, Matthew 3:12.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

separate the wheat from the chaff (third-person singular simple present separates the wheat from the chaff, present participle separating the wheat from the chaff, simple past and past participle separated the wheat from the chaff)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To select only that which is of value.

   Synonym: winnow

   Hyponyms: (figurative) cream the crop, cherry-pick

   • 2022 July 13, Rachel Cheung, “A Bored Chinese Housewife Spent Years Falsifying Russian History on Wikipedia”, in Vice‎^[1]:

     As a punishment, Zhemao and her affiliated accounts were suspended permanently. Most of her articles were deleted based on community consensus. Some Wikipedians even wrote to experts, seeking help to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Translations

to select only that which is of value

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 分清良莠 (fēnqīng liángyǒu)

• Czech: oddělit zrno od plev pf
• Danish: skille klinten fra hveden
• Dutch: het kaf van het koren scheiden
• Finnish: erottaa jyvät akanoista (fi)
• French: séparer le bon grain de l’ivraie (fr)
• German: die Spreu vom Weizen trennen (de)
• Greek: διαχωρίζω την ήρα από το στάρι (el) (diachorízo tin íra apó to stári)
• Hebrew: לָבוּר אֶת הַבָּר מִן הַתֶּבֶן (lavúr et habár min hatéven)
• Hungarian: elválasztja/szétválasztja az ocsút a búzától
• Icelandic: skilja hismið frá kjarnanum
• Italian: separare il grano dalla pula, separare il buono dal cattivo
• Japanese: もみがらから麦をより分ける (momigara kara mugi o yoriwakeru), 良いものと悪いものを分ける (yoi mono to warui mono o wakeru)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skille klinten fra hveten (no)

• Polish: oddzielać ziarno od plew impf, oddzielić ziarno od plew (pl) pf
• Portuguese: separar o trigo do joio, separar o joio do trigo (pt)
• Russian: отделя́ть зёрна от пле́вел impf (otdeljátʹ zjórna ot plével, literally “to separate grain from tares”), отдели́ть зёрна от пле́вел pf (otdelítʹ zjórna ot plével, literally “to separate grain from tares”), му́хи отде́льно, котле́ты отде́льно (ru) (múxi otdélʹno, kotléty otdélʹno, literally “flies apart, meatballs apart”), отдели́ть а́гнцев от ко́злищ pf (otdelítʹ ágncev ot kózlišč, literally “to separate lambs from goats”)
• Spanish: apartar el grano de la paja, separar la paja del trigo, separar el trigo de la paja
• Swedish: skilja agnarna från vetet (sv)

See also

• wheat and tares