KANAE
256Japanese idiom 四字熟語

猫の手も借りたい

Neko no te mo karitai

“One would even borrow the cat's paws.”

The meaning

Overload said with humor: even the most useless help would be welcome. Beneath the joke, a real signal — when you are there, it is time to ask for human help.

At the origin

A familiar expression for periods of overload.

The characters

  1. nekocat
  2. noof (link)
  3. 借りたい

The complete word-by-word reading, in KANAE.

ParticleLinks two words: possession or belonging, like “of”.

In practice

If you are down to the cat's paws, delegate one real task to a human.

Themes

Similar proverbs

Related expressions

See also