don't count your chickens before they're hatched

English

Alternative forms

• don't count your chickens before they hatch, don't count your chickens before the eggs have hatched

Etymology

First attested in English in Thomas Howell's 1570 New Sonnets and Pretty Pamphlets in the couplet "Counte not thy Chickens that vnhatched be, / Waye wordes as winde, till thou finde certaintee", possibly deriving from similar medieval and early modern Latin fables and maxims.

Proverb

don't count your chickens before they're hatched

1. One should not depend upon a favorable (and typically overoptimistic) outcome to one's plans until it is certain to occur.

   Synonyms: don't get your hopes up, don't sell the skin till you have caught the bear

   • [1663 (indicated as 1664), [Samuel Butler], “The Second Part of Hudibras. Canto III.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 175:

     [...] Make Fools believe in their fore-seeing / Of things before they are in Being; / To swallow Gudgeons ere th' are catch'd, / And count their Chickens ere th' are hatch'd, [...]]

Translations

one should not depend upon a favorable outcome to one's plans until it is certain to occur

• Afrikaans: moenie die beer se vel verkoop voordat hy geskiet is nie
• Albanian: peshku në det, tigani në zjarr
• Arabic: لَا تَشْتَرِي ٱلسَّمَكَ وَهُوَ فِي ٱلْبَحْرِ بَلِ ٱنْتَظِرْ حَتَّى يُصْطَادَ (lā taštarī s-samaka wahuwa fī l-baḥri bali ntaẓir ḥattā yuṣṭāda)
• Catalan: no diguis blat fins que no sigui al sac i ben lligat
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (勿打)如意算盤／(勿打)如意算盘 (wù dǎ rúyìsuànpán), (別)一廂情願／一厢情愿 (zh) (bié yīxiāngqíngyuàn), (別做)白日夢／(别做)白日梦 (bié zuò báirìmèng)

• Czech: neříkej hop, dokud nepřeskočíš, nechval dne před večerem (cs)
• Danish: pels ikke bjørnen før den er skudt
• Dutch: de huid niet verkopen voor de beer geschoten is (nl)
• Esperanto: la manĝota fiŝo estas ankoraŭ en la rivero
• Finnish: älä nuolaise ennen kuin tipahtaa, älä nylje karhua ennen kuin se on kaadettu
• French: il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué (fr)
• Friulian: no stâ vendi le piel dal ors prime di vêlu copât
• German: man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben (de) (common, but slightly different sense), man soll das Fell des Bären nicht verteilen, bevor er erlegt ist (de)
• Hindi: सूत न कपास जुलाहों में लट्ठम-लट्ठा (sūt na kapās julāhõ mẽ laṭṭham-laṭṭhā)
• Hungarian: ne igyál előre a medve bőrére (hu), nyugtával dicsérd a napot (hu)
• Icelandic: ekki er sopið kálið þó í ausuna sé komið, fyrr skal fuglinn veiddur en steiktur
• Irish: ní breac é go raibh sé ar an bport
• Italian: non dire gatto se non ce l'hai nel sacco, non cantare vittoria troppo presto
• Japanese: 捕らぬ狸の皮算用 (ja) (toranu tanuki no kawazan'yō)
• Korean: 김칫국부터 마시지 마라 (gimchitgukbuteo masiji mara)
• Latin: ante victoriam ne canas triumphum
• Lithuanian: viščiukus skaičiuoja vakarais
• Maori: kāti te toitoi okewa, ahakoa iti te koutu whenua e kore e taea te parepare
• Navajo: tʼáadoo danitʼání íítiʼ
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: selge skinnet før bjørnen er skutt (no)

• Persian: جوجه رو آخر پاییز می شمارند
• Polish: nie dziel skóry na niedźwiedziu, nie chwal dnia przed zachodem słońca (pl), nie mów hop, póki nie przeskoczysz (pl)
• Portuguese: não conte com o ovo dentro da galinha, não conte com o ovo antes da galinha botar
• Romanian: toamna se numără bobocii, nu vinde blana ursului din pădure, nu zice hop până nu ai sărit
• Russian: цыпля́т по о́сени счита́ют (cyplját po óseni sčitájut), не дели́ шку́ру неуби́того медве́дя (ne delí škúru neubítovo medvédja), не говори́ «гоп», пока́ не перепры́гнешь (ne govorí «gop», poká ne pereprýgnešʹ)
• Sanskrit: अजातपुत्रनामोत्कीर्तन (ajātputranāmotkīrtan)
• Scottish Gaelic: na h-abair diug a choidhche ris an eun gus an dig e às an ugh, dèan fanaid air do sheann-bhrògan nuair a gheibh thu do bhrògan ùra, mol an latha math mu oidhche, mol an deireadh
• Spanish: no vendas la piel del oso antes de cazarlo, hasta el rabo, todo es toro, no echar las campanas al vuelo
• Sranan Tongo: no kosi kaiman mama fosi yu abra liba
• Swedish: sälj inte skinnet innan björnen är skjuten, ta inte ut segern i förskott
• Telugu: ఆలు లేదు, చూలు లేదు, కొడుకు పేరు సోమలింగము (ālu lēdu, cūlu lēdu, koḍuku pēru sōmaliṅgamu)
• Thai: สงครามยังไม่จบ อย่าเพิ่งนับศพทหาร
• Turkish: dereyi görmeden paçaları sıvamak (tr)
• Ukrainian: не хвали́ день до ве́чора (ne xvalý denʹ do véčora), хвали́ день уве́чері, а життя́ пе́ред сме́ртю (xvalý denʹ uvéčeri, a žyttjá péred smértju)
• Walloon: i n' fåt nén vinde l' oû k' est co e cou del poye (wa)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: mach keine Milchmädchenrechnung auf (literally “don’t make a milkmaid’s calculation”)

See also

• halloo before one is out of the wood
• it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings
• out of the woods

 

Further reading

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, →ISBN, p. 63.
• Jennifer Speake, ed., Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, 6th ed., 2015, →ISBN, p. 60.