The English-language idiom "raining cats and dogs" or "raining dogs and cats" is used to describe particularly heavy rain. It is of unknown etymology and is not necessarily related to the raining animals phenomenon.[1] The phrase (with "polecats" instead of "cats") has been used at least since the 17th century.[2] [3]
A number of possible etymologies have been put forward to explain the phrase.[4]
One possible explanation involves the drainage systems on buildings in 17th-century Europe, which were poor and may have disgorged their contents, including the corpses of any animals that had accumulated in them, during heavy showers. This occurrence is described in Jonathan Swift's 1710 poem "Description of a City Shower":[5]
Another explanation is that "cats and dogs" may be a corruption of the Greek word, referring to the waterfalls on the Nile, possibly through the old French word ('waterfall'). In old English, meant a cataract or waterfall.
"Cats and dogs" may come from the Greek expression, which means "contrary to experience or belief"; if it is raining cats and dogs, it is raining unusually hard. There is no evidence to support the theory that the expression was borrowed by English speakers.
An online rumor largely circulated through email claimed that, in 16th-century Europe, animals could crawl into the thatch of peasant homes to seek shelter from the elements and would fall out during heavy rain. However, no evidence has been found in support of the claim.[6]
There may not be a logical explanation; the phrase may have been used just for its nonsensical humor value, or to describe particularly heavy rainfall, like other equivalent English expressions ("raining pitchforks", "raining hammer handles").
Other languages have equally bizarre expressions for heavy rain.[7] [8]
| Language | Expression | English translation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afan Oromo | the sky got torn | ||
| Afrikaans | it's raining old tribal women/women/aunts with knobsticks | ||
| it's raining frogs and toads | |||
| Albanian | [rain] is falling like ropes | ||
| God is taking a piss | |||
| God is crying | |||
| Bengali | rain is falling like pestles | ||
| Bosnian | crowbars dropping | ||
| it's pouring like from a bucket | |||
| Cantonese | it's raining dog's poo | ||
| Chinese | Chinese: 傾盆大雨/ | it's pouring out of basins | |
| Catalan | raining boats and barrels | ||
| Croatian | axes dropping | ||
| Czech | falling wheelbarrows | ||
| rains like from a watering can | |||
| Danish | raining shoemakers' apprentices | ||
| Dutch | raining pipe stems (or stair rods) | ||
| Dutch (Flemish) | raining old women | ||
| raining kittens | |||
| Estonian | raining like from a beanstalk | ||
| kallab nagu ämbrist | raining as if poured from a bucket | ||
| Finnish | raining like from Esteri's ass | ||
| raining as if poured from a bucket | |||
| French | raining like a peeing cow | ||
| raining buckets | |||
| raining halberds | |||
| raining nails | |||
| raining ropes | |||
| raining enough to drink standing | |||
| Georgian | raining like water flows from a filled (koka: 'water measuring tableware, jar') | ||
| German | raining young dogs | ||
| raining like poured from buckets | |||
| raining strings | |||
| Greek | raining chair legs | ||
| Hebrew | stormy/raging rain | ||
| Hindi | rain like a pestle [onto a mortar] | ||
| Hungarian | like poured from a vat | ||
| Icelandic | like poured from a bucket | ||
| Japanese | earth and sand descending | ||
| Kannada | a stream of mallets | ||
| Italian | poured from a basin | ||
| Latin | it rained from a basin | ||
| Latvian | it's raining like from buckets | ||
| Lithuanian | it's pouring like from a bucket | ||
| Malayalam | mad rain | ||
| Maltese | infetħu bwieb is-sema | the doors of the sky have opened | |
| Marathi | rain like a pestle [onto a mortar] | ||
| Nepali | rain like a pestle [onto a mortar] | ||
| Norwegian | raining she-trolls | ||
| it's bucketing down | |||
| Odia | rain like a pestle [onto a mortar] | ||
| Persian | raining jackals | ||
| Polish | pouring like from a bucket | ||
| [the rain/it] is throwing frogs | |||
| Portuguese | raining penknives | ||
| raining by the pot load | |||
| raining by the bucket load | |||
| raining by the pitcher load | |||
| raining by the jug load | |||
| it's raining chorizos | |||
| Portuguese (Brazil) | raining snakes and lizards | ||
| a stick of water is falling | |||
| a foot of water is falling | |||
| Punjabi | rain that beats kids | ||
| Romanian | raining frogs | ||
| breaking with rain | |||
| raining from a bucket | |||
| Russian | it's pouring like from a bucket | ||
| Scottish Gaelic | the rain as rough as whelks | ||
| the drowning deluge | |||
| Serbian | axes are falling | ||
| pouring like from a bucket | |||
| Sinhalese | raining cats and dogs | ||
| Spanish | shortpikes/icicles point first | ||
| raining by the clay pot-full | |||
| (the rain) is hitting us like they hit an octopus | |||
| raining toads and snakes | |||
| Spanish (Argentina) | pointing down turds are falling | ||
| Spanish (Colombia) | raining husbands | ||
| Spanish (Venezuela) | a stick of water is falling | ||
| Swedish | raining little devils | ||
| raining small nails | |||
| the rain stands like canes on the ground | |||
| sky fall | |||
| Tamil | ghost rain | ||
| Telugu | pouring like an inverted pot | ||
| Thai | ฝนตกไม่ลืมหูลืมตา | raining without opening its eyes and ears | |
| Turkish | raining like poured from a cup | ||
| Ukrainian | pouring like from a bucket | ||
| Urdu | rain like a pestle [on a mortar] | ||
| Vietnamese | raining as pouring a lot of water | ||
| Welsh | raining old ladies and sticks |