eat humble pie

English

WOTD – 26 February 2006

Etymology

The spoken phrase a numble pie (a pie made from the entrails of a deer) was re-interpreted as an umble pie, then written as (a) humble pie, after which the figurative meaning developed.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

eat humble pie

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) to admit one's faults; to make a humiliating apology
   • 1869, Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl:

     Polly had a spice of girlish malice, and rather liked to see domineering Tom eat humble-pie, just enough to do him good, you know.

Translations

to admit one's faults

• Czech: sypat si popel na hlavu (cs)
• French: manger son chapeau (fr)
• Hungarian: megalázkodik (hu)

• Icelandic: leggja niður skottið
• Italian: mangiare la polvere
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spise hatten sin, krype til korset (no)

• Spanish: tragarse las palabras

Further reading

• humble in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “Eat humble pie”, in BBC Learning English‎^[1], BBC, 4 November 2014.