🇰🇷Korean Source WordCode: KO

말과 행동을 조심하다

Pronunciation / Transliteration: malgwa haeng-dong-eul josimhada

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Mind your ps and qs/ˌmaɪnd jɔːr ˌpiːz ən ˈkjuːz/
verb phraseCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #8500 frequency
Full Thesaurus
🇰🇷 Example Sentence in Korean:

"어른들 앞에서 말과 행동을 조심해야 한다."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As verb phrase
  1. 1

    Be careful about what you say and how you behave; mind your manners.

    "You need to mind your ps and qs when meeting the executives for the first time."
  2. 2

    Pay attention to details and conduct oneself properly in a specific social context.

    "The children were told to mind their ps and qs while visiting the museum."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

The exact origin of the phrase remains debated, with popular theories suggesting it arose in 17th-century English taverns where bartenders kept track of pints and quarts consumed by patrons, or from French dancing masters instructing students to mind their 'pieds' (feet) and 'queues' (wigs). Over time, it evolved from an admonition about literal counting or physical posture into a general idiom meaning to be careful of one's manners, speech, and conduct.

Quick Vocabulary Retention Check

Which of the following is the closest synonym for "Mind your ps and qs"?

10 Global Lexicons: How "Mind your ps and qs" is said worldwide

Click any language below to open its dedicated Language to English dictionary page with native script & transliteration

Thesaurus & Synonyms Graph

Explore Nuanced Synonyms for "Mind your ps and qs"

Discover exact matches, context-specific alternatives, and antonyms with intensity ratings in the VocabDictionary Thesaurus.

View "Mind your ps and qs" Synonym Map