a cat may look at a king
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Also seen as: a cat can look at a king
Meaning · English
Even those of low status have rights
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Ngay cả những người có địa vị thấp cũng có quyền
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a cat looking at a king
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “a cat may look at a king” mean?
Even those of low status have rights Literally: a cat looking at a king
Is “a cat may look at a king” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.