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• Once bitten, twice shy
  Once bitten, twice shy

  An injury makes a person wary of its cause.
• once bitten, twice shy
  once bitten, twice shy

  Once hurt, one is doubly cautious in the future, as in He was two days late last time, so she's not hiring him again—once bitten, twice shy. This seemingly old observation, presumably alluding to an animal biting someone, was first recorded in 1894.

Once bitten, twice shy

Cultural  

1. An injury makes a person wary of its cause.

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once bitten, twice shy Idioms  

1. Once hurt, one is doubly cautious in the future, as in He was two days late last time, so she's not hiring him again—once bitten, twice shy. This seemingly old observation, presumably alluding to an animal biting someone, was first recorded in 1894.

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Example Sentences

You might think that Whitmarsh would have been "once bitten twice shy" when it came to Honda.

From BBC • Mar. 3, 2026

"It's sort of as the saying goes - once bitten, twice shy," she said.

From BBC • Feb. 22, 2025

Certainly, nettles in their natural state do pack a wallop, and most people, once bitten, twice shy, avoid them.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 18, 2023

For the fashion industry, it’s perhaps a case of once bitten, twice shy.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 15, 2018

The printers of the works of Prynne, Barthius, Reynaud, and other voluminous writers must have had a sorry experience with their authors; but "once bitten twice shy."

From Books Fatal to Their Authors by Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)