à méchant ouvrier, point de bon outil
French, proverb/a me.ʃɑ̃.t‿u.vʁi.je | pwɛ̃ d(ə) bɔ.n‿u.ti/
à méchant ouvrier, point de bon outil is a French proverb meaning “a bad workman always blames his tools” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
What does à méchant ouvrier, point de bon outil mean in English?
proverb
- 1
a bad workman always blames his tools
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
phrase: 1. Celui qui fait mal son affaire trouve toujours une excuse ou un prétexte.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
How do you pronounce à méchant ouvrier, point de bon outil?
- /a me.ʃɑ̃.t‿u.vʁi.je | pwɛ̃ d(ə) bɔ.n‿u.ti/
- \a me.ʃɑ̃.t‿u.vʁi.je pwɛ̃ də bɔ.n‿u.ti\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.