• Listen

  What it means

  Literally “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” Expresses the principle of proportional revenge or retribution.

  Vocabulary

  • oko — eye
  • ząb — tooth
  • za — for / in exchange for

  Grammar note

  'Za' here means 'in exchange for' and takes the accusative. Both 'oko' and 'ząb' appear in nominative and accusative positions.

  Cultural context

  This phrase has biblical origins (Exodus 21:24) and appears across most European languages.

  Beginner

Noticed a typo, a wrong translation, or anything that doesn't look right? We'd love to fix it — just let us know via the contact page. Thank you!