Word.ws English Dictionary

you don't know where it's been

you don't know where it's been phrase: an object encountered in an unfamiliar place (such as outdoors) could be dirty or contaminated by germs, and should therefore not be handled through bodily contact. Chiefly said to command children not to interact with foreign objects.

Phrase

you don't know where it's been

  1. (childish, colloquial) An object encountered in an unfamiliar place (such as outdoors) could be dirty or contaminated by germs, and should therefore not be handled through bodily contact. Chiefly said to command children not to interact with foreign objects.
    • Get that banana peel out of your mouth this instant! You don't know where it's been!

Questions about you don't know where it's been

What does you don't know where it's been mean?
You don't know where it's been means an object encountered in an unfamiliar place (such as outdoors) could be dirty or contaminated by germs, and should therefore not be handled through bodily contact. Chiefly said to command children not to interact with foreign objects.
What part of speech is you don't know where it's been?
You don't know where it's been is a phrase.

Words near you don't know where it's been in the dictionary

  1. you don't get owt for nowt
  2. you don't get something for nothing
  3. you don't get your nookie where you get your cookies
  4. you don't know what you're talking about
  5. you don't know what you've got till it's gone
  6. you don't know where it's been
  7. you don't look at the mantelpiece when you poke the fire
  8. you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire
  9. you don't miss the water till the well runs dry
  10. you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows
  11. you don't say

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: you don't know where it's been (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)-Flame, not lame-you don't know where it's been.wav.

Cite this entry: “you don't know where it's been.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/you_don%27t_know_where_it%27s_been. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.