• Listen

  What it means

  “An owl will not give birth to a falcon.” A variant of the same idea — you cannot expect a noble, powerful outcome from humble or unsuitable origins.

  English equivalent

  You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

  Vocabulary

  • sowa — owl
  • sokół — falcon
  • urodzić — to give birth to, to bear

  Grammar note

  'Sokoła' is the accusative of 'sokół'. The negated perfective future 'nie urodzi' takes the genitive in some registers, but accusative is also standard here.

  Cultural context

  The falcon was a symbol of nobility and power in Polish heraldry and falconry tradition, making the contrast with the owl especially pointed.

  Intermediate

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!