What does it mean?
Words can cause deep emotional harm.
Closest English saying: The opposite of “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”.
What does it literally say?
Η γλώσσα κόκαλα δεν έχει και κόκαλα τσακίζει
I glósa kókala den éhi ke kókala tsakízi
“The tongue has no bones, yet it breaks bones.”
The contrast between the soft, boneless tongue and hard bones stresses the power of speech.
How is it used?
“Be careful how you speak to people. The tongue has no bones, yet it breaks bones.”
Where does it come from?
Traditional Greek folk usage. eipane has not documented a first author or a first written record for this saying.
This is an English edition of the Greek entry, which remains the reference version. The English text was written from the Greek entry with the help of AI tools and checked against it. Suggest a correction ↗