proverb · Words worth keeping
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying pairs an eye with an eye and a tooth with a tooth. It presents a response to harm in terms of a matching loss.
What the words are saying
The repeated body parts make equivalence the governing image. A critical explanation can examine the idea of proportion without turning the phrase into instructions for retaliation. It does not establish what justice requires in a particular case or verify a legal rule here.
Everyday example
A discussion asks what a proportionate response means without treating identical injury as a required solution.
When to use it
Use it to examine a model of matching harm critically.
What it does not mean
No permission for violence, legal advice or required retaliation is established.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided proverb reference
Supplied reference A; unit 508; PDF page 74
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.