From the ancient (but inaccurate) belief that crocodiles shed tears while consuming their prey .
crocodile tear plural crocodile tears
( idiomatic ) 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 ) 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 (fi) 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
crocodile tears on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 