once bitten, twice shy
- idiom
- Informal
:
el que fue mordido una vez, teme dos veces
- After losing money in that investment, he is now once bitten, twice shy.
Examples
-
After losing money in the stock market, he became once bitten, twice shy with his investments.
-
She refused to adopt another pet so quickly—once bitten, twice shy.
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The candidate avoided making promises he couldn't keep, remembering that once bitten, twice shy.
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She was once bitten, twice shy after her last relationship ended badly.
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After getting scammed online, she became once bitten, twice shy about sharing her personal information.
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He learned the hard way that relationships can be complicated; now he's once bitten, twice shy in dating.
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Having lost money in a bad investment, he is now once bitten, twice shy and approaches financial decisions with great caution.
Synonyms
110
3.6
Careful because you do not trust someone or something
36
5.0
Feeling worried that something bad will happen
7
7.9
Feeling nervous about doing something because of a past bad experience
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal parts ('once' = one time, 'bitten' = hurt by a bite, 'twice' = two times, 'shy' = cautious/timid) give a clear metaphorical scaffold: being harmed once leads to greater caution next time. However, the proverb’s elliptical form and conventionalized meaning require mapping the metaphor to the pragmatic sense 'becoming wary after a bad experience', which is not completely predictable for an uninstructed B1 learner. Because constituents point toward the intended idea but the phrase is conventional and somewhat figurative, it is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
The saying once bitten, twice shy comes from a clear image: if you are bitten once, you become shy, meaning 'careful', the next time. That's why the phrase means 'careful because of a bad experience'.