Learn English – Why does a Cheshire cat grin, and how long has it been doing so

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Most people are familiar with the expression "grin like a Cheshire cat" from Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (1865), which goes so far as to provide a glimpse of the grin without the cat. But the saying is at least half a century older. From John Cox Bridge, Cheshire Proverbs and Other Sayings and Rhymes Connected with the City and County Palatine of Chester (1917) [combined snippets]:

To Grin Like a Cheshire cat.

Probably the best known of all our County proverbs, and yet it must at once be said : —

  1. That it is not an old saying and no old writer or old collection of Proverbs gives it. The first known mention of it is in the works of Peter Pindar (John Walcot, M.D.). "Lo ! like a Cheshire cat our court will grin." c. 1794/1801.

  2. That it is not, and never has been, a very common saying in the County. Darlington says that he has never heard it used. Its present popularity is undoubtedly due to the humorous use made of it in "Alice in Wonderland."

  3. Numerous attempts have been made to elucidate it in Notes and Queries and other books, but with no result. The first query was as follows : — " Will some of your correspondents explain the origin of the phrase ' Grinning like a Cheshire Cat'? The ingenious theory of somebody, I forget who, that Cheshire is a County Palatine and that the cats, when they think of it, are so tickled that they can’t help grinning, is not quite satisfactory. N & Q, [November 2,] 1850.

Bridge goes on to present several theories that attempt to explain the origin of the expression, none of which he seems to find especially compelling. I have two questions:

  1. What is the earliest known instance of the saying? Is it still Peter Pindar's?

  2. What is the origin of the expression (the saying, not the grin)?

Best Answer

Cheshire is the name of a county in England. Before you jump to any conclusions let me assure you that the cats from this county aren't famous for their grins. The place however, was famous for its cheese.

The cheese makers from this place used to draw the figure of a smiling cat on a special type of cheese. People who bought this type of cheese saw the face of a cat with a broad smile.

So the cat in the idiom Grinning like a Cheshire Cat is not a real cat, but the figure that was found on cheese. Although the idiom has been around for several centuries, it was the author of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll who made it famous.

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