many a mickle makes a muckle

English

WOTD – 2 March 2022

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌmɛni‿ə ˈmɪk(ə)l meɪks‿ə ˈmʌk(ə)l/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌmɛni‿ə ˈmɪkəl meɪks‿ə ˈmʌkəl/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ʌkəl
Hyphenation: ma‧ny a mick‧le makes a muck‧le

Usage notes

The original form of the proverb was many a little (or pickle) makes a mickle, mickle meaning “a great amount”. However, it became corrupted to many a mickle makes a muckle, leading to mickle being thought to mean “a small quantity” and muckle to mean “a large quantity”, even though muckle is a variant of mickle and both mean “a large quantity”.^[1] The vowel change suggests the influence of ablaut reduplication.

Proverb

many a mickle makes a muckle

(chiefly Northern England, Scotland) A lot of small amounts, put together, become a large amount. [from 1793]
Synonyms: every little helps, little and often fills the purse, many a little makes a mickle, many a pickle makes a mickle, take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves
- 1793 April 21, George Washington, Worthington Chauncey Ford, compiler and editor, “Letters to Anthony Whiting, 1793”, in The Writings of George Washington, volumes XII (1790–1794), New York, N.Y., London: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, the Knickerbocker Press, published 1891, →OCLC, page 382:
  People are often ruined before they are aware of the danger, by buying everything they think they want, without adverting to a Scotch adage—than which nothing in nature is more true—"that many mickles make a muckle."
  According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this is the first occurrence of the term in print.

Translations

lot of small amounts, put together, become a large amount

Chinese:
Mandarin: 聚沙成塔 (zh) (jùshāchéngtǎ, literally “gathering sand grains completes a tower”)
Danish: mange bække små gør en stor å
Dutch: vele kleintjes maken een grote
French: les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières (fr) (literally “small streams make big rivers”), petit à petit, l’oiseau fait son nid (fr)
German: Kleinvieh macht auch Mist (de), steter Tropfen höhlt den Stein (de)
Hungarian: sok kicsi sokra megy (hu)
Icelandic: margt smátt gerir eitt stórt
Irish: bailíonn brobh beart
Jamaican Creole: every mikkle mek a mukkle
Japanese: 塵も積もれば山となる (ja) (ちりもつもればやまとなる, chiri-mo tsumoreba yama-to naru)
Korean: 티끌 모아 태산 (ko) (tikkeul moa taesan), 백지장도 맞들면 낫다 (ko) (baekjijangdo matdeulmyeon natda), 백지장도 맞들면 낫다 (ko) (baekjijangdo matdeulmyeon natda)
Malay: sedikit-sedikit, lama-lama jadi bukit (literally “bit by bit, in the end it becomes a hill”), sehari selembar benang, lama-lama menjadi kain (literally “every day a thread, soon a cloth”)
Polish: ziarnko do ziarnka, a zbierze się miarka (pl) (literally “grain to grain and the measuring cup will collect”)
Portuguese: grão a grão enche a galinha o papo
Russian: копе́йка рубль бережёт (kopéjka rublʹ berežót, literally “a kopeyka saves a ruble”), с миру по нитке – голому руба́ха (s miru po nitke – golomu rubáxa) (somewhat)
Slovene: zrno na zrno pogača kamen na kamen palača
Spanish: muchos pocos hacen un mucho
Swedish: många bäckar små gör en stor å (sv) (literally “many small streams make a big river”)
Turkish: damlaya damlaya göl olur.
Ukrainian: крапля камінь точить. (kraplja kaminʹ točytʹ.)
Vietnamese: góp gió thành bão (vi), tích tiểu thành đại

References

^ “many a little (also pickle) makes a mickle (now frequently in the garbled form many a mickle makes a muckle)” under “mickle, adj., pron. (and n.), and adv.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “many a little makes a mickle, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.