kill two birds with one stone

English

Etymology

Apparently coined by Dr. John Bramhall, Bishop of Derry, in a 1646 letter to Thomas Hobbes, later published in 1656.

Compare earlier stop two gaps with one bush.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

kill two birds with one stone (third-person singular simple present kills two birds with one stone, present participle killing two birds with one stone, simple past and past participle killed two birds with one stone)

1. (idiomatic) To solve two problems with one single action.

   Biking to work kills two birds with one stone. It saves money travelling and will help to lose weight.

Synonyms

• feed two birds with one scone

Translations

solve two problems at once

• Afrikaans: twee vlieë met een klap slaan (af) (literally “to hit two flies in one slap”)
• Arabic: ضَرَب عُصْفُورَيْن بِحَجَر وَاحِد (ḍarab ʕuṣfūrayn bi-ḥajar wāḥid, literally “to hit two sparrows with one stone”)
• Armenian: մի գնդակով երկու նապաստակ խփել (hy) (mi gndakov erku napastak xpʻel)
• Azerbaijani: bir güllə ilə iki dovşan vurmaq
• Bengali: এক ঢিলে দুই পাখি মারা (bn) (ek ḍhile dui pakhi mara)
• Breton: lazhañ div voualc'h gant ur maen (br)
• Bulgarian: да убиеш с един куршум два заека (da ubieš s edin kuršum dva zaeka, literally “to kill two rabbits with one bullet”)
• Burmese: တစ်ချက်ခုတ် နှစ်ချက်ပြတ် (tachkyakhkut hnachkyakprat)
• Catalan: matar dos pardals d'un tret, matar dos ocells d'un tret
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 一石二鳥 / 一石二鸟 (jat¹ sek⁶ ji⁶ niu⁵), 一箭雙鵰 / 一箭双雕 (jat¹ zin³ soeng¹ diu¹), 一雞兩味 / 一鸡两味 (jat¹ gai¹ loeng⁵ mei^6-2), 一舉兩得 / 一举两得 (jat¹ geoi² loeng⁵ dak¹)

  Mandarin: 一石二鳥 / 一石二鸟 (zh) (yī shí èr niǎo, literally “one stone, two birds”), 一箭雙雕 / 一箭双雕 (zh) (yī jiàn shuāng diāo), 一舉兩得 / 一举两得 (zh) (yī jǔ liǎng dé)

• Czech: zabít dvě mouchy jednou ranou
• Danish: slå to fluer med et smæk (da)
• Dutch: twee vliegen in een klap slaan
• Esperanto: trafi du celojn per unu ŝtono (eo) (literally “to hit two targets with one stone”)
• Estonian: tapma kaks kärbest ühe hoobiga (literally “to kill two flies in one slap”)
• Finnish: tappaa kaksi kärpästä yhdellä iskulla
• French: faire d’une pierre deux coups (fr)
• Georgian: ერთი გასროლით ორი კურდღლის მოკვლა (erti gasrolit ori ḳurdɣlis moḳvla)
• German: zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen (de)
• Greek: με ένα σμπάρο δυο τρυγόνια (me éna smpáro dyo trygónia, literally “with one shot, two pigeons”), μ' ένα σμπάρο δυο τρυγόνια (m' éna smpáro dyo trygónia)
• Hebrew: לתפוס שתי ציפורים במכה אחת
• Hindi: एक पंथ दो काज (ek panth do kāj)
• Hungarian: két legyet üt egy csapásra (hu)
• Icelandic: slá tvær flugur í einu höggi
• Indonesian: sekali mendayung, dua-tiga pulau terlampaui (literally “to reach two-three islands with one rowing stroke”)
• Irish: dhá éan a mharú leis an urchar amháin
• Italian: prendere due piccioni con una fava
• Japanese: 一石二鳥 (ja) (いっせきにちょう, isseki ni chō), 一挙両得 (ja) (ikkyo ryōtoku)
• Kazakh: бір оқпен екі қоян ату (bır oqpen ekı qoän atu, literally “to kill two birds with one shot”)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 일석이조(一石二鳥) (ko) (ilseog-ijo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بە بەردێک دوو چۆلەکە بکوژە (be berdêk dû çoleke bikuje)

• Latin: Duo parietes de eadem fidelia dealbare (literally “to whitewash two walls out of the same bucket”) (Cicero, Ad Familiares 7.29.2.)
• Latvian: nošaut divus zaķus ar vienu šāvienu (literally “to shoot two bunnies with one shot”)
• Lithuanian: vienu šūviu nušauti du zuikius (literally “to shoot two rabbits with one shot”)
• Luxembourgish: zwou Mécken op ee Schlag kréien
• Malay: sambil menyelam minum air
• Mongolian: нэг сумаар хоёр туулай буудах (neg sumaar xojor tuulaj buudax)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: slå to fluer i en smekk (no) (literally “to hit two flies in one slap”)

  Nynorsk: slå to fluger i ein smekk (literally “to hit two flies in one slap”)

• Persian: با یک تیر دو نشان زدن (bâ yek tir do nešân zadan)
• Polish: upiec dwie pieczenie na jednym ogniu (pl)
• Portuguese: matar dois coelhos com uma cajadada só
• Romanian: omorî două muște dintr-o lovitură (literally “to hit two flies in one slap”), împușca doi iepuri dintr-un foc
• Russian: уби́ть одни́м вы́стрелом двух за́йцев pf (ubítʹ odním výstrelom dvux zájcev)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: убити једним ударцем двије мухе

  Roman: ùbiti jèdnīm ùdārcem dvȉje mùhe

• Sinhalese: එක ගලෙන් කුරුල්ලෝ දෙන්නයි (eka galen kurullō dennayi, literally “two birds by one stone”)
• Spanish: matar dos pájaros de un tiro (es)
• Swedish: slå två flugor i en smäll (sv)
• Telugu: ఒకేదెబ్బకు రెండు పిట్టలు (okēdebbaku reṇḍu piṭṭalu)
• Thai: ยิงปืนนัดเดียวได้นกสองตัว (ying bpeun nát dieow dâai nók sŏng dtua)
• Turkish: bir taşla iki kuş vurmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: вби́ти двох зайці́в одни́м по́стрілом (vbýty dvox zajcív odným póstrilom, literally “kill two hares in one shot”)
• Vietnamese: một công đôi việc, một công đôi chuyện, nhất cử lưỡng tiện (vi), nhất tiễn song điêu (vi), một mũi tên trúng hai đích
• Welsh: lladd dau aderyn â'r un garreg, lladd dau aderyn ag un ergyd, lladd dwy frân ag un ergyd
• Yiddish: שיסן צוויי האָזן מיט איין שאָס (shisn tsvey hozn mit eyn shos), כאַפּן צען סאָראָקעס בײַ איין וויידל (khapn tsen sorokes bay eyn veydl)

See also

• at one blast
• one fell swoop
• stop two gaps with one bush
• while one is at it