pot calling kettle black came from don quixote.
where did pot calling kettle black come from?
don quixote
the earliest appearance of the idiom is in thomas shelton's 1620 translation of the spanish novel "don quixote". the protagonist is growing increasingly restive under the criticisms of his servant sancho panza, of which one is that "you are like what [it] is said that the frying-pan said to the kettle, 'avant, black-browes'." the spanish text at this point reads: "dijo la sartén a la caldera, quítate allá ojinegra" (said the pan to the pot, get out of there black-eyes). it is identified as a proverb ("refrán") in the text, functioning as a retort to the person who criticises another of the same defect that he plainly has. among several variations, the one where the pan addresses the pot as "culinegra" (black-arse) makes clear that they are dirtied in common by contact with the cooking fire.
the pot calling the kettle black
the pot calling the kettle black





























"the pot calling the kettle black" is a proverbial idiom that may be of spanish origin, of which english versions began to appear in the first half of the 17th century. the idiom is glossed in the original sources as being used of a person who is guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another and is thus an example of psychological projection.





























section::::origin.
the pot calling the kettle black