have one's cake and eat it too
have one's cake and eat it too verb: to benefit by having two things which are mutually incompatible (such as eating a piece of cake and yet still possessing that piece for future use).
Verb
have one's cake and eat it too (third-person singular simple present has one's cake and eats it too, present participle having one's cake and eating it too, simple past had one's cake and ate it too, past participle had one's cake and eaten it too)
- To benefit by having two things which are mutually incompatible (such as eating a piece of cake and yet still possessing that piece for future use).
- It's not possible to get your savings and keep the piggy bank intact. You can't have your cake and eat it too!
have one's cake and eat it too meaning in Hindi, Persian and Thai
have one's cake and eat it too in Hindi
- to have two things which are mutually incompatible
- दोनों हाथों में लड्डू होना donõ hāthõ mẽ laḍḍū honā, चित भी मेरी, पट भी मेरी cit bhī merī, paṭ bhī merī
have one's cake and eat it too in Persian
- to have two things which are mutually incompatible
- هم خدا را خواستن و هم خرما را ham xodâ râ xâstan va ham xormâ râ, هم خرو خواستن هم خرما ham xar-o xâstan ham xormâ
have one's cake and eat it too in Thai
- to have two things which are mutually incompatible
- จับปลาสองมือ
Forms of have one's cake and eat it too
| third-person singular present | has one's cake and eats it too |
|---|---|
| present participle | having one's cake and eating it too |
| past | had one's cake and ate it too |
| past participle | had one's cake and eaten it too |
| alternative form | eat one's cake and have it too |
Questions about have one's cake and eat it too
- What does have one's cake and eat it too mean?
- Have one's cake and eat it too means to benefit by having two things which are mutually incompatible (such as eating a piece of cake and yet still possessing that piece for future use).
- What is have one's cake and eat it too in Hindi?
- Have one's cake and eat it too in Hindi is दोनों हाथों में लड्डू होना (donõ hāthõ mẽ laḍḍū honā), चित भी मेरी, पट भी मेरी (cit bhī merī, paṭ bhī merī). See Have one's cake and eat it too meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is have one's cake and eat it too?
- Have one's cake and eat it too is a verb.
- What is the past tense of have one's cake and eat it too?
- The past tense of have one's cake and eat it too is had one's cake and ate it too.
Words near have one's cake and eat it too in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: have one's cake and eat it too (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-have one's cake and eat it too.ogg.
Cite this entry: “have one's cake and eat it too.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/have_one%27s_cake_and_eat_it_too. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.