English Explanatory Dictionary

in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

English dictionary entry

Meanings

proverb
  1. Even someone with limited abilities or opportunities is dominant over, and considered special by, those who have even fewer abilities and opportunities; the value of any ability depends on its prevalence.

Pronunciation

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.wav

Word forms

in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king in the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king in the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is king in the city of the blind, the one-eyed man is king in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

Etymology

Calque of Latin in regione caecorum rex est luscus, popularized by Desiderius Erasmus’ Adagia (1500). For further origin compare Aramaic בשוק סמייא צווחין לעווירא סגי נהור (literally “in the street of the blind, the one-eyed man is called the guiding light”), found in the Genesis Rabbah (4th or 5th century CE). This may be Erasmus’ direct source, but at least some traditional link between both forms seems likely.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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