Have you ever seen someone do something that only hurts themselves, just to make someone else unhappy? That’s the idea behind the phrase “cutting off your nose to spite your face.” It’s not about literal nose-cutting—thankfully—but about doing something in anger or revenge that ends up hurting you more than anyone else.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the expression, but the real question is, would the World Wright have used that expression?

Into the rabbit hole we go!

The earliest version appears in the 12th century, in a work by Peter of Blois, a medieval writer. He wrote in Latin something like: “He who cuts off his nose takes poor revenge for a shame inflicted on him.”

Back in Tudor times (in the 1500s), there was a proverb that said something like, “some would lose both their eyes to lose their foe just one. ”

Later, in the 18th century, The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1788) by Francis Grose recorded a version closer to today’s wording : “He cut off his nose to be revenged of his face” The exact phrase we use now (“to spite your face”) only started showing up in the mid-1800s. Whew, that just squeaks into the World Wright’s timeline!

I have to admit it was a relief to know that that phrase was safe from the editing pen of doom!

References

Merriam-Webster. n.d. “cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Accessed September 3, 2025. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cut%20off%20one%27s%20nose%20to%20spite%20one%27s%20face Merriam-Webster.

Wikipedia. 2025. Cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. Accessed September 3, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_off_one%27s_nose_to_spite_one%27s_face Wikipedia.

Phrase Finder. 2024. “Cut off your nose to spite your face.” Phrases.org.uk. Accessed September 3, 2025. https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/106875.html Phrase Finder.

Origin of ‘to cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face’. Word Histories. August 23, 2017. Accessed September 3, 2025 https://wordhistories.net/2017/08/23/cut-nose-spite-face/