Word.ws English Dictionary

the early bird gets the worm

/ði ˈɜ(ɹ)li ˈbɜ(ɹ)d ɡɛts ðə wɜ(ɹ)m/

the early bird gets the worm proverb: whoever arrives first has the best chance of success; some opportunities are available only to the first competitors.

Proverb

the early bird gets the worm

  1. Whoever arrives first has the best chance of success; some opportunities are available only to the first competitors.

the early bird gets the worm meaning in Arabic, Malay and Vietnamese

the early bird gets the worm in Arabic

whoever arrives first has the best chance of success
مِنْ سَبَق أَكْل النَبْق min sabaq ʔakl an-nabq, مِنْ سَبَقْ شَمْ الحَبْقْ min sabaq šam al-ḥabq

the early bird gets the worm in Malay

whoever arrives first has the best chance of success
siapa cepat dia dapat

the early bird gets the worm in Vietnamese

whoever arrives first has the best chance of success
con chim đầu bắt sâu

Forms of the early bird gets the worm

alternative formthe early bird catches the worm

Questions about the early bird gets the worm

What does the early bird gets the worm mean?
The early bird gets the worm means whoever arrives first has the best chance of success; some opportunities are available only to the first competitors.
What is the early bird gets the worm in Arabic?
The early bird gets the worm in Arabic is مِنْ سَبَق أَكْل النَبْق (min sabaq ʔakl an-nabq), مِنْ سَبَقْ شَمْ الحَبْقْ (min sabaq šam al-ḥabq). See The early bird gets the worm meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is the early bird gets the worm?
The early bird gets the worm is a proverb.
How do you pronounce the early bird gets the worm?
The early bird gets the worm is pronounced /ði ˈɜ(ɹ)li ˈbɜ(ɹ)d ɡɛts ðə wɜ(ɹ)m/.

Words near the early bird gets the worm in the dictionary

  1. the dress
  2. the drinks are on me
  3. the Ds
  4. the dumps
  5. the early bird catches the worm
  6. the early bird gets the worm
  7. the Earth kept spinning
  8. The Emergency
  9. The Enchantments
  10. the end
  11. the end justifies the means

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: the early bird gets the worm (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-the early bird gets the worm.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-the early bird gets the worm.wav.

Cite this entry: “the early bird gets the worm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/the_early_bird_gets_the_worm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.