From the ancient belief that crocodiles shed tears while consuming their prey.
crocodile tear (plural crocodile tears)
- (idiomatic) A tear shed insincerely, in a false display of sorrow or some other emotion.
1877, Charles Reade, chapter 2, in A Woman-Hater[1]:At last he contrived to squeeze out one of his little hysterical tears, and drop it on her hand. Now, the girl was not butter, like some of her sex; far from it: but neither was she wood—indeed, she was not old enough for that—so this crocodile tear won her for the time being.
- (idiomatic, in the plural) A display of tears that is forced or false.
1864, Anthony Trollope, chapter 19, in Can You Forgive Her?:And in all her letters since, she had spoken of her aunt as a silly, vain, worldly woman, weeping crocodile tears, for an old husband whose death had released her from the tedium of his company.
display of tears that is forced or false
- Afrikaans: krokodiltrane
- Albanian: lotët e krokodilit
- Amharic: የአዞ እንባ (yäʾäzo ʾənba)
- Arabic: دُمُوع اَلتَّمَاسِيح m pl (dumūʕ at-tamāsīḥ)
- Armenian: կոկորդիլոսի արցունքներ (kokordilosi arcʻunkʻner)
- Azerbaijani: timsahın göz yaşları
- Assamese: কুমিৰৰ চকুলো (kumiror sokulü)
- Azerbaijani: timsahın göz yaşları
- Basque: krokodilo-malkoak
- Belarusian: кракадзілавы слёзы (krakadzilavy sljózy)
- Bengali: কুমিরের কান্না (kumirer kanna)
- Bulgarian: крокодилски сълзи (krokodilski sǎlzi)
- Burmese: မိကျောင်းမျက်ရည် (mi.kyaung:myak-rany)
- Catalan: llàgrimes de cocodril f pl
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 貓哭耗子假慈悲/猫哭耗子假慈悲 (māo kū hàozi jiǎ cíbēi), 貓哭耗子/猫哭耗子 (zh) (māo kū hàozi), 假慈悲 (zh) (jiǎ cíbēi), 鱷魚的眼淚/鳄鱼的眼泪 (zh) (èyú de yǎnlèi)
- Czech: krokodýlí slzy f pl
- Danish: krokodilletårer c pl
- Dutch: krokodillentranen (nl) f pl
- Esperanto: krokodilaj larmoj
- Estonian: krokodillipisarad
- Finnish: krokotiilinkyyneleet pl
- French: larmes de crocodile (fr) f pl
- Galician: bágoas de crocodilo f pl, lágrimas de crocodilo f pl
- Georgian: ნიანგის ცრემლები (niangis cremlebi)
- German: Krokodilstränen (de) f pl
- Greek: κροκοδείλια δάκρυα (el) n pl (krokodeília dákrya)
- Gujarati: કૃત્રિમ આશ્વાસન (kŕtrim āśvāsan), ઢોંગનાં કે જૂઠાં આંસુ (ḍhoṅgnā̃ ke jūṭhā̃ ā̃su)
- Haitian Creole: dlo nan je kwokodil
- Hebrew: דִּמְעוֹת תַּנִּין (he) f pl (dim'ót tanín)
- Hindi: घड़ियाली आंसू (ghaṛiyālī ānsū)
- Hungarian: krokodilkönnyek (hu) pl
- Icelandic: hræsnistár n pl, krókódílstár n pl, uppgerðarhryggð f
- Indonesian: air mata buaya
- Irish: deoir bhréag f, deoir bhréagach f, deora bréige
- Italian: lacrime di coccodrillo f pl
- Japanese: 嘘泣き (ja) (うそなき, usonaki)
- Kannada: ಮೊಸಳೆ ಕಣ್ಣೀರು (kn) (mosaḷe kaṇṇīru)
- Khmer: ទឹកភ្នែកក្រពើ (tɨkphnɛɛkkrɑɑpəə)
- Korean: 악어의 눈물 (ageo-ui nunmul)
- Kyrgyz: крокодилдин көз жашы (krokodildin köz jaşı)
- Latvian: krokodila asaras
- Lithuanian: krokodilo ašaros f pl
- Macedonian: крокодилски солзи (krokodilski solzi)
- Malay: air mata buaya
- Malayalam: മുതലക്കണ്ണീർ (mutalakkaṇṇīṟ)
- Maori: tangi kurī
- Marathi: मगरीचे अश्रू (magrīce aśrū)
- Mongolian: матрын нулимс (matryn nulims)
- Norwegian: krokodilletårer m pl
- Persian: اشک تمساح (ašk-e temsâh)
- Polish: krokodyle łzy (pl) f pl
- Portuguese: lágrimas de crocodilo (pt) f pl
- Romansch: larmas da crocodil f pl
- Russian: крокоди́ловы слёзы f pl (krokodílovy sljózy)
- Scottish Gaelic: deòir nam breugan m pl
- Spanish: lágrimas de cocodrilo (es) f pl
- Swedish: krokodiltårar (sv) c pl
- Telugu: మొసలి కన్నీళ్లు (te) (mosali kannīḷlu), మొసలికన్నీరు (te) (mosalikannīru)
- Turkish: timsah gözyaşları
- Ukrainian: крокодиля́чі сльо́зи (uk) f pl (krokodyljáči slʹózy)
- Uzbek: timsoh koʻz yoshlari
- Vietnamese: nước mắt cá sấu
- Welsh: dagrau crocodeil m pl, wylofain crocodeil m
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