# a drop in the ocean/bucket, drops form the sea



## Perseas

Hello,

_a drop in the ocean_ (or N. Amer. _bucket_) is a very small amount compared with what is needed or expected, according to the WR English dictionary. 

What is the equivalent of it in other languages?

In Greek it is: "σταγόνα στον ωκεανό" /sta'ɣona 'ston ocea'no/, which means exactly "drop in the ocean".
I think in German it's "ein Tropfen auf einem heißen Stein".

Thank you.


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## rusita preciosa

Russian:
*капля в море */kaplia v more/ - drop in a sea


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## itreius

Croatian / BCS

_kap u moru_, _kapljica u moru_ - drop in the sea, droplet in the sea


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## AquisM

Chinese: 沧海一粟/滄海一粟 (Mandarin: cang hai yi su/Cantonese: cong hoi yat suk) - a grain in the seas/ocean


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## ThomasK

Dutch: *een druppel op een hete plaat *(a drop on a hot plate/ board [...])


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## Bruine

French: Une goutte d'eau dans l'océan / dans la mer (A drop of water in the ocean / in the sea)


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## Perseas

ThomasK said:


> Dutch: *een druppel op een hete plaat *(a drop on a hot plate/ board [...])


It's obvious that in the saying the adjective "hot" appears in both German and Dutch (heiß/hete).


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## Outsider

Portuguese: _uma gota no oceano_, *a drop in the ocean*.


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## AutumnOwl

_*Swedish:*
En droppe i havet_ - a drop in the sea


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## sakvaka

*Finnish*: _pisara valtameressä_ (a drop in [an/the] ocean)


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## francisgranada

*Hungarian*

Egy csepp a tengerben (a drop in the ocean)


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## Selyd

In Ukrainian:
Крапля (капля) в морі /kraplia (kaplia) v mori/  - drop in a sea.


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## ilocas2

Czech:

kapka v moři - drop in sea
plivnutí do vody - spitting into water
plivnutí do moře - spitting into sea


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## tFighterPilot

Hebrew:

טיפה בים Tipá bayám - A drop in the sea.


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## marco_2

In Polish (like in other Slavic languages): *kropla w morzu *= a drop in the sea.


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## ancalimon

Turkish: Denizde bir damla (a drop in the sea)


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## darush

*Persian:
*ghatreyi dar daryā قطره ای در دریا
there is another meaning associate with this example in Persian literature.
when a drop falls into a sea, there is no a drop longer but it becomes a sea or a part of sea; this means dying(from drop) into being(sea)!


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## ger4

[Moderator's Note: Merged with a previous thread]
Sometimes an effort can seem insignificant in comparison with the workload that still lies ahead of you - like 'a drop in the ocean'.

In German: _ein Tropfen auf den heißen Stein_ (lit.: 'a drop on the hot stone').

A while ago I came across an Estonian proverb that says the opposite, more or less:
_Tilkadest kogub meri _(lit.: 'Out-of-drops collects-itself the sea') - 'Drops accumulate to form the sea'

Do you know of similar expressions in other languages?

Thanks in advance!


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## Messquito

In Chinese:
There are phrases similar to "a drop in the ocean" but are not composed of "drop":
九牛一毛(one hair on nine(meaning many) cows) meaning that something is so insignificant that it is like one of the hair on so many cows.
滄海一粟(a millet seed in the sea)
For Chinese, most of the idioms that involve "water drop" are about its significant:
積水成淵(when you accumulate water, it becomes an ocean)
滴水穿石(drops of water pierce through rocks)


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## Dymn

In Catalan we have a proverb:
_De mica en mica s'omple la pica, i de gota en gota s'omple la bóta. _
(Lit.: Little by little the sink fills, and drop by drop the barrel fills)

And there's another idiom in both Catalan (_la gota que fa vessar el got_) and Spanish (_la gota que colma el vaso_) which is literally translated as 'the drop which fills up the glass'. Its meaning is 'the last thing that makes me lose my patience'. I think that the English equivalent is _the last straw._


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## ilocas2

In Czech I'm familiar with *Z kapek je moře* (sea is from drops, lit. from - drops - is - sea). It has few results on Google, but I heard it several times.


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## ger4

Messquito said:


> For Chinese, most of the idioms that involve "water drop" are about its significant:
> 積水成淵(when you accumulate water, it becomes an ocean)
> 滴水穿石(drops of water pierce through rocks)





Diamant7 said:


> In Catalan we have a proverb:
> _De mica en mica s'omple la pica, i de gota en gota s'omple la bóta. _
> (Lit.: Little by little the sink fills, and drop by drop the barrel fills)
> 
> And there's another idiom in both Catalan (_la gota que fa vessar el got_) and Spanish (_la gota que colma el vaso_) which is literally translated as 'the drop which fills up the glass'. Its meaning is 'the last thing that makes me lose my patience'.





ilocas2 said:


> In Czech I'm familiar with *Z kapek je moře* (sea is from drops, lit. from - drops - is - sea)


Many thanks for your replies, they are exactly the kind of idioms I was looking for.


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## ThomasK

Holger2014 said:


> A while ago I came across an Estonian proverb that says the opposite, more or less:
> _Tilkadest kogub meri _(lit.: 'Out-of-drops collects-itself the sea') - 'Drops accumulate to form the sea'
> 
> Do you know of similar expressions in other languages?


 I can imagine an expression about the value of small things in building, but not with water...


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## Armas

Holger2014 said:


> A while ago I came across an Estonian proverb that says the opposite, more or less:
> _Tilkadest kogub meri _(lit.: 'Out-of-drops collects-itself the sea') - 'Drops accumulate to form the sea'
> 
> Do you know of similar expressions in other languages?



Finnish has that expression: P_isaroista (se) merikin koostuu_, but our word for drop is _pisara_ (or _tippa_) while _tilkka_ is "dash, a small amount of liquid". Another expression with similar meaning is _Pennissä on miljoonan alku_ = A penny is the beginning of a million.


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## 810senior

Japanese: 雀の涙(sparrow's tears) meaning the very little amount.


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## bibax

Holger2014 said:


> A while ago I came across an Estonian proverb that says the opposite, more or less:
> _Tilkadest kogub meri _(lit.: 'Out-of-drops collects-itself the sea') - 'Drops accumulate to form the sea'


It reminds me the sorites paradoxon: The sea cannot be created by adding one drop to any amount of water that is not a sea. Thus sea doesn't exist.


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