English Idiom – A bull in a china shop.
Someone who is clumsy or careless in a place or situation that needs care.
Picture a tiny shop full of teapots, plates and delicate teacups. Now imagine a huge bull walking in. He tries his very best to be careful, but one swish of his tail and the cups go flying. That’s what we mean when we call someone a bull in a china shop: they mean well, but they’re far too clumsy for the situation.
We use it for clumsy movement, like knocking things over, but also for clumsy words. If someone talks about a delicate subject without thinking about other people’s feelings, they’re behaving like a bull in a china shop too.
In this idiom, china means fine porcelain: cups, saucers and plates. The word comes from China, where this kind of porcelain was first made, and in Britain people still talk about getting out the best china when guests come round. The idiom has been around since at least the early 1800s. Funnily enough, real bulls are rather careful. When the TV show MythBusters tested it in 2008, the bulls walked around the shelves and broke almost nothing!
How to Use It
- The usual pattern is like a bull in a china shop: “He charged into the room like a bull in a china shop.”
- You can also use it as a noun after be: “I’m a bit of a bull in a china shop in the kitchen.”
- It works for clumsy words as well as clumsy hands: “She was a bull in a china shop when she asked about his exam results.”
Note: write china with a small c when you mean cups and plates. With a capital C, China is the country.
More animal idioms: The Elephant in the Room, Hold Your Horses, Like a Bear With a Sore Head and The Black Sheep of the Family. Or see all our animal idioms.
Example:
- “My nephew is like a bull in a china shop whenever he visits Grandma’s house.”
- “Dad stormed into the kitchen like a bull in a china shop and knocked over the milk.”
- “Stop being such a bull in a china shop! Those glasses were expensive.”
- “Was I a bit of a bull in a china shop when I mentioned her ex?”
Learn More
Look it upBull in a china shopWiktionaryWhat is an idiom?
An idiom is a word or phrase that is not taken literally. An idiom is an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its individual words, but has a separate meaning of its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
It describes someone who is clumsy or careless in a place or situation that needs care. It can be about knocking things over, or about saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Here, china means fine porcelain, such as cups, saucers and plates. It is not the country, which is written with a capital C.
Not really. When the TV show MythBusters tested the idea in 2008, the bulls moved carefully around the shelves and broke almost nothing.
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