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Explore 24 Punjabi proverbs in Gurmukhi with transliteration, the literal image, everyday meaning and the English equivalent.
Punjabi Akhaan Explorer is a searchable collection of 24 Punjabi proverbs written in Gurmukhi, each with a Roman transliteration, the literal image behind the words, the situation it is actually used in, and the closest English proverb. An akhaan is a complete sentence carrying village wisdom, which separates it from a muhavara — a fixed phrase that needs a sentence built around it. It is made for Punjabi language students, writers and speakers, and anyone who half-remembers a line an elder used to say.
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Every proverb is given in Gurmukhi script alongside a Roman reading, so non-readers can still say it aloud.
The literal translation and the working sense are listed apart, which is where most online translations go wrong.
Wisdom, character, money, caution, folly and more group related sayings so you can browse rather than guess.
An akhaan (ਅਖਾਣ) is a proverb — a complete sentence stating a general truth from shared experience, such as ਜਿੰਨੀ ਚਾਦਰ ਹੋਵੇ ਓਨੇ ਹੀ ਪੈਰ ਪਸਾਰੀਏ, stretch your feet only as far as the sheet reaches. Because it stands alone, it differs from a muhavara, which only makes sense inside a longer sentence.
It mocks late, showy piety from someone with a long record of the opposite. Literally 'having eaten nine hundred mice, the cat set off for Hajj', it is used when a person suddenly announces reform after years of doing the very thing they now condemn.
An akhaan is a full sentence with a moral or observation that can be quoted on its own; a muhavara is an idiomatic phrase, usually ending in a verb, that has to be conjugated into a sentence. Punjabi language exams often ask students to classify examples into the two, so the test is simply whether the line stands alone.
There are 24 proverbs across eight themes — wisdom, speech, character, money, folly, family, caution and consequences. Each one is still in ordinary spoken use rather than a literary rarity, and wording follows the form most commonly printed in Gurmukhi collections.