Little pitchers have big ears. (Strauss 1994, p. 653)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Children often overhear and understand more than adults think
Literally: small containers for liquids have large ears
Examples
Be careful what you say, little pitchers have big ears
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Little pitchers have big ears. (Strauss 1994, p. 653)” mean?
Children often overhear and understand more than adults think Literally: small containers for liquids have large ears
Is “Little pitchers have big ears. (Strauss 1994, p. 653)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.