birds of a feather flock together

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The expression appears to have surfaced in the 16th century, allegedly a literal translation of Plato's Republic. In 1545, William Turner wrote a version of the expression in the Rescuing of Romish Fox: "Byrdes of on kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together." One can, however, also compare the expression to Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 27:9: "Birds resort unto their like."

81 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Albanian: gjeti tenxherja kapakun — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Azerbaijani: eşşək anqırar, tayını tapar — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Azerbaijani: taylı tayını tapar — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Azerbaijani: tay tayını tapar — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Bengali: ঝাঁকের কই ঝাঁকেই মেশে (jhãker koi jhãkei meśe) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Chinese Cantonese: 物以類聚 /物以类聚 (mat6 ji5 leoi6 zeoi6) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Hakka Chinese: 人同人好,鬼同鬼好 (ngìn thùng ngìn hó, kúi thùng kúi hó) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Chinese: 龍交龍,鳳交鳳,隱痀的交侗戇 /龙交龙 — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Chinese: 凤交凤 — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Chinese: 隐痀的交侗戆 (Lêng kau lêng, hōng kau hōng, ún-ku--ê kau tòng-gōng.) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Chinese Mandarin: 物以類聚 /物以类聚 (wùyǐlèijù) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Czech: vrána k vráně sedá — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Danish: krage søger mage — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Danish: lige børn leger bedst — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Dutch: soort zoekt soort — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Esperanto: birdoj samplumaj flugas kunaj — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Finnish: samanlaiset lapset leikkivät parhaiten — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• French: qui se ressemble s'assemble — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• German: Gleich und Gleich gesellt sich gern — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• German: zeig mir deine Freunde und ich sage dir, wer du bist — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Greek: όμοιος ομοίω αεί πελάζει (ómoios omoío aeí pelázei) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Greek: τα όμοια έλκονται (ta ómoia élkontai) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Hebrew: כל עוף למינו ישכון ובני אדם לדומה לו — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Hindi: एक थाली के चट्टे बट्टे (ek thālī ke caṭṭe baṭṭe) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Hungarian: zsák a foltját megtalálja — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Hungarian: madarat tolláról, embert barátjáról — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Icelandic: líkur sækir líkan heim — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Icelandic: sækjast sér um líkir — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Irish: is bách iad lucht aon cheirde — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Italian: chi si assomiglia si piglia — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Italian: dio li fa e poi li accoppia — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Japanese: 類は友を呼ぶ (rui wa tomo o yobu) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Japanese: 牛は牛連れ、馬は馬連れ — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Korean: 유유상종 (yuyusangjong) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Korean: 끼리끼리 (kkirikkiri) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Latin: pares cum paribus facillimē congregantur — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Latvian: tāds ar tādu saderas — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Macedonian: се стркалало грнчето си го нашло поклопчето (se strkalalo grnčeto si go našlo poklopčeto) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Malay: اڠݢڠ برسام اڠݢڠ, ڤيڤيت برسام ڤيڤيت — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Malay: سامکه اءير هوجن دڠن اءير ڤريݢي؟ — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Malay: انته برسام انته, برس برسام برس — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Malay: اورڠ سبنتوق باݢاي چينچين, ستيتيق باݢاي امس — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Malay: enggang bersama enggang, pipit bersama pipit — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Malay: samakah air hujan dengan air perigi? — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Malay: antah bersama antah, beras bersama beras — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Malay: orang sebentuk bagai cincin, setitik bagai emas — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Maltese: ma’ min rajtek xebbaħtek — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Norwegian: like barn leker best — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Persian: کبوتر با کبوتر، باز با باز (Kabutar bâ kabutar, bâz bâ bâz) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Polish: ciągnie swój do swego — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Portuguese: diga-me com quem andas e eu te direi quem és — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Romanian: cine se aseamănă se adună — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Romanian: spune-mi cu cine te însoțești ca să îți spun cine ești — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Russian: я́блоко от я́блони недалеко́ па́дает (jábloko ot jábloni nedalekó pádajet) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Russian: рыба́к рыбака́ ви́дит издалека́ (rybák rybaká vídit izdaleká) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Russian: дура́к дурака́ ви́дит издалека́ (durák duraká vídit izdaleká) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Russian: во́рон во́рону глаз не вы́клюет (vóron vóronu glaz ne výkljujet) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Sanskrit: भावो भावं निगच्छति (bhāvo bhāvaṃ nigacchati) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Scottish Gaelic: an dubh-isean ag iarraidh an dubh-gheòidh — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Scottish Gaelic: is toigh le bò mhaol bò mhaol eile — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Serbo-Croatian: svaka ptica svome jatu leti — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Sicilian: nun ti pigghiu si nun t'assumigghiu — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Slovak: vrana k vrane sadá — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Slovene: vrana vrani ne izkljuje oči — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Slovene: enake sorte ptiči skup letijo — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Spanish: dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Spanish: cada oveja con su pareja — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Spanish: Dios los cría y ellos se juntan — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Spanish: Dios los cría y el diablo los junta — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Swedish: lika barn leka bäst — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Tamil: இனம் இனத்தோடு சேரும் (iṉam iṉattōṭu cērum) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Telugu: ఒకగూటి పక్షులు ఒకేచోటికి చేరుతాయి (okagūṭi pakṣulu okēcōṭiki cērutāyi) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Turkish: it ulur, birbirini bulur — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Ukrainian: одного поля ягоди (odnoho polja jahody) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Uyghur: مال تۈرى بىلەن (mal türi bilen) — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Vietnamese: đồng thanh tương ứng — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Vietnamese: đồng khí tương cầu — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Vietnamese: khôn ngoan đá đáp người ngoài, gà cùng một mẹ chớ hoài đá nhau — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Vietnamese: khôn ngoan đối đáp người ngoài, gà cùng một mẹ chớ hoài đá nhau — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Walloon: les cis ki si rshonnèt s' rashonnèt — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate
• Welsh: adar o'r unlliw a hedant i'r unlle — people of similar character, etc. tend to associate