pot calling the kettle black
Accuser equally guilty
A pot calling the kettle black is an accusation of hypocrisy—criticizing someone for a fault you share.
The image is of blackened cookware over a fire, one piece ridiculing the other for being sooty.
That's the pot calling the kettle black often gets shortened to pot, kettle or just pot, kettle, black.
- two-facedInsincere and deceptive
- double standardUnequally applied moral code
- hypocrisyPretense of virtue
- holier than thouSmugly morally superior
- blameAssign responsibility for wrongdoing
faultfinding · projection · irony · judgmental · pot · forked tongue · accusation · point the finger · whataboutism · takes one to know one · have it both ways · criticism · finger-pointing · stones · cast the first stone · sanctimony · you can talk · self-righteousness
pot calling the kettle blackself-aware
Conscious of own existence
self-awareness · intellectual humility · walking the talk · leading by example · self-critical
pot calling the kettle blackleading by example
Teaching through demonstration
self-reflection · clean hands · walking the talk · self-criticism · intellectual honesty
kettle, pottery, potted, blacken, potter, blackness, kettles, potting, blackest