Tsumo starting with Z

Shona Proverbs

• Zambuko rowakarambwa / rinomera soraNothing keeps its renown forever; everything comes to an end one way or another. A good name is a fragile thing and will fall apart if it is not looked after.
• Zamu idamba richadzika
• Zano moto / rinogokwa kuna vamweOne person alone cannot accomplish work that calls for many hands; nobody can rely on his own efforts only. In life a person must seek help from others in both affairs and labour.
• Zano sure nyi, kuvinde mbuya.
• Zano vaviri / zano ndoga akatsvira mudumbaSound counsel takes two heads; the man who trusted only his own thinking came to grief, burning in the hut.
• Zarura rehanga nderimwe cheteWhen others are visibly steering clear of a danger, you should back away with them rather than press on alone. Such warnings usually rest on hard experience, so certain things and certain places are best left untouched.
• Zhara inodyisa mutupoHunger will drive a person to eat the flesh of his own clan totem.
• Zhou hairemerwi nenyanga dzayoHowever heavy its tusks may be, an elephant never finds them a burden. What properly belongs to you is not a weight to you.
• Zigadzi kunyangara / asi kuroya harigoniA big woman may look unpleasant, but that does not make her a witch. People can look thoroughly equipped for a contest and still come up empty when the moment arrives.
• Ziitakamwe / gava kudambura musungoIt is a thing done only the once, like a fox tearing itself free of a snare. Such a feat is not to be repeated.
• Ziitakamwe / mimba yousikanaSome experiences are so painful that nobody wants to repeat them; once hurt, a person learns to be careful and avoid falling into the same trap again. This version simply notes that a girl's first pregnancy is a one-off event in every woman's life.
• Zimuonde ziguru kupunzika / pwere dzinovanda pai?When a great fig tree comes down, the young ones are left with nowhere to shelter.
• Zimutsa bope / kudyidzana nembwaSharing your food with a dog is asking for a quarrel.
• Zimvura guru rakatunza kubaThieves set out when rain is coming, trusting it to wash away their tracks; people are emboldened to do wrong when circumstances seem to guarantee they will not be found out. Those convenient conditions can fail and leave the deed exposed.
• Zinatsawafa / kugadzira hama nemombeSlaughtering an ox at a relative's magadziro is done for the benefit of the dead, not the living. The magadziro is the rite at which a person's final funeral observances are performed and their estate shared out.
• Zino irema / rinosekerera anorivengaA tooth has no sense: it grins even at the person who hates it.
• Zinyakurasikirwa anotsvaga uta nomugateA man who has mislaid his bow goes searching for it inside a clay pot. Someone who has suffered a loss hunts for the missing thing in places where it could not possibly be.
• Zinzwa wakanzwa.
• Zipfuko rambuya / ziramba watonhaWhat the old woman offers from her pitcher is only turned down once you have tasted it.
• Zirume kutswinya mwana padama / kuti vari mumba vanzweA grown man who pinches a child on the cheek is not really aiming at the child — he wants the people inside the hut to hear and respond. The blow is struck at one person so that another will feel it.
• Ziso rimwe chete harina ukombaA single eye on its own gives nothing impressive to look at.
• Ziso rinokunda akabvisa mombe.
• Ziso rinokunda wakabvisa mombeA lingering look gets more out of a woman than the man who paid cattle for her. Some men eye other men's wives more covetously than the husbands themselves do, and take more pleasure from looking than the married men do.
• Ziso romukadzi womumwe / rinodonha uchiAnother man's wife seems to have honey dripping from her eye. People tire of what is familiar and overrate what belongs to someone else, forgetting that it is really no better than what they already have — as a husband does when he covets another man's wife.
• Ziva kwawakabva / nokuti mudzimu weshiri uri mudendereKeep your origins in mind, just as a bird's mudzimu stays in the nest it came from. A person ought to hold on to the customs and traditions he was born into even after moving elsewhere.
• Ziva ngemwoyo kusambira kwembwa.
• Zizi kurungwa munyu / roti ndava hukuwoWhen an owl is seasoned with salt it imagines it has become a fowl.
• Zundu kugara mundove / hunzi neni ndava mombewoA worm that lives in cattle dung imagines that it too is a cow. Mere proximity to something greater does not make one its equal.
• Zuva igore / rinodoka rava namarevo mavi namauyaA single day is like a whole year: by sunset it has brought both welcome and unwelcome tidings.
• Zuva rimwe haripedzi duraA single day does not empty a granary. One day's worth of eating makes little difference to a full store.
• Zuva rimwe haripedzi nyayaFailing to do something on the day it was meant to be done does not mean it can never be done. There are plenty of days ahead in which to finish what you intend.
• Zuva rimwe hariradzi mundaBeing away for a single day is not enough to leave your field neglected.
• Zuva rina meso / deko rine nzeveWhatever is done in secret, whether by day or by night, cannot stay concealed forever — it comes out as though someone had been lying in wait watching it. Sooner or later everyone will hear of it.
• Zvaboora mwoyo tsuro (nherera) haiti ndaguta
• Zvaita sei dzvatsvatsva, kufamba wakatakura ura?It's a miracle to see someone doing something they are not known for.
• Zvaita sei kuti chembere yorasika / bere rorutsa imvi?How does it come about that an old woman goes missing and at the same moment a hyena brings up grey hair?
• Zvakanakira gwavava nomukadzi wake mubako / nokuti hakuna anoziva mumwe kuti ane makwatiA rock lizard and his mate are well matched in their cave, since neither one takes any notice of the other's scaly hide.
• Zvakarimwa navamwe mudyo / zvikazodyiwa navane boshweThose who do the labouring are often not the ones who enjoy what it produces; a few toil while many others live off the result. One person plants and another harvests.
• Zvamangwana zvinozivikanwa nebenziA sensible person finishes today's work today, knowing tomorrow may bring obstacles; only a fool claims to know what tomorrow holds and puts things off waiting for better conditions.
• Zvamina / hazvina mafi. (M)No grudge arises out of a person's own affairs. Where the planning and the doing were yours alone, the hurt that follows is yours alone to put up with, and there is nobody you would want to lay the fault on.
• Zvapachihwerure hazviendi kumba.
• Zvatosvorana / gonzo nachin'aiIt is unusual for people who normally get on well to start insulting one another, so when friends fall to quarrelling it startles onlookers.
• Zvatumwa wabvira / chembere kutumwa mutsago nashe, svike yopereka nendiroIt is a fine sight when an old woman, sent to bring the chief's headrest, arrives presenting it on a plate. Someone who goes far beyond what an errand required is angling for favour and thanks from the one who sent them.
• Zvigapu hazviburaniOne pot of relish cannot lift another off the fire; each must stand on its own. Obligations do not cancel one another out — one debt cannot be settled by pointing to another.
• Zvikomo zvemutunhu mumwe zvinotambidzana mhute.
• Zvikondorani ndizvo zviwadzani.
• Zvikoni-zvikoni / amai havaroodzwiWhat cannot be done simply cannot be done: a mother is not given away in marriage.
• Zvinakisi ndizvo zvikondori zvomwoyoThe things that please us most are the very ones that end in letting us down, once they are taken to excess.
• Zvine mashura / gudo kuputsika mumutiA baboon dropping out of a tree would be a strange thing to witness. In the same way, people are taken aback by a man who was once rich and is now so badly off that he begs, and such a turn of events points to great hardship in the land.
• Zvinhu zviedzwa / chembere yakabika mabweThings have to be attempted — even an old woman once put stones on to boil. Do not shrink from a difficulty before trying it; make your best effort first, and only let go once you have seen it cannot be done.
• Zvino munyu ndizvo zvinei / chidokohori chikagodyiwa wani?Why insist on salted relish when pounded groundnuts will serve just as well? Someone who knows hardship takes whatever comes and does not pick and choose.
• Zvinofa negore / mukonde kufa zisoThe mukonde tree's growing bud is slow to die because thorns shield it; likewise some people seem protected and long-lasting in their comfort.
• Zvinokona zviine hata / chembere ichikoniwa musoro wenzouOnly after she has tried, head-pad and all, does an old woman concede that an elephant's head is beyond her lifting.
• Zvinonyadza mutauri kuti mbudzi yaba nyama iyo imbwa iripoTo say the goat took the meat when a dog was standing right there brings shame on the one saying it.
• Zvinorema / zvinoda makonoHeavy or dangerous undertakings require strong, courageous people. Taking on something like a lion is not a job for the faint-hearted but for those with a steady nerve.
• Zvirema kusekana mundiro yenhopiCripples sit mocking one another over the same dish of pumpkin mash, though they share the very same condition.
• Zvirevo muto / zvinosevesanaSayings work like relish-gravy, each one seasoning the next; people well versed in proverbs quickly come to an understanding when they talk.
• Zviri kumvana / kubara mwana asina babaIt rests with the young mother herself whether she bears a child who has no father; the matter is hers to decide.
• Zviri musango zvinosekana / pfunye ikaona hoto inosekaThe creatures of the bush make fun of one another: the go-away bird laughs the moment it catches sight of a pelican. Those who are alike are quick to mock each other's appearance.
• Zviri pavanhu / matengu haafambi ogaWhatever occurs has some origin behind it; nothing comes about purely by accident.
• Zvita zvisiye mumera.
• Zviururwi zvinofara kana kondo afa zisoLittle frogs rejoice once the hammer-head bird has gone blind in one eye — those who are preyed upon take delight when the one who threatens them is impaired.
• Zviuya hazvirimisi. (hazviwanane)
• Zviuya hazviwananiTwo good things rarely come together: a woman raised in comfort seldom marries into comfort, and a clever wife seldom gets an equally clever husband.
• Zvoti mwana otsva kudumbu / amai votsva kumusana (muberekero hapachisina)If the child is burnt on the belly and the mother on the back, there is no way left to carry the child. When helper and helped are struck by the same affliction, neither can do anything for the other.