Word.ws English Dictionary

what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander proverb: if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another (often of the opposite gender).

Proverb

what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

  1. If something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another (often of the opposite gender).
    • […] sawce which is good for the Goose, I hope will be good for the Gander […][1674, Richard Head, The English Rogue, Part 3, page 4
    • That that's good sauce for a goose, is good for a gander.[1678, John Ray, Collection of English Proverbs, 2nd edition, Cambridge, page 48
  2. One who treats others in a certain way should not complain about receiving the same treatment.

Synonyms of what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

Antonyms

  • quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi

Origin of what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

1670s, figuratively using goose/gander for women and men, and literally meaning that the same sauce applies equally well to cooked goose, regardless of sex. Early forms include “as deep drinketh the goose as the gander” (1562) and similar “As well for the coowe calfe as for the bull” (1549). The expression appears in Dickens when a spy attempting to evade culpability insists, “For you cannot sarse the goose and not the gander.”

Words formed from what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

Questions about what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

What does what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander mean?
What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander means if something is acceptable for one person, it is acceptable for another (often of the opposite gender).
What part of speech is what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander?
What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander is a proverb.

Words near what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander in the dictionary

  1. what's occurring
  2. what's old is new again
  3. what's on your mind
  4. what's one's angle
  5. what's popping
  6. what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander
  7. what's shaking
  8. what's someone's damage
  9. what's that
  10. what's the beef
  11. what's the betting

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander (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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