Pandora's box

Pandora's box

English

Proper noun

Pandora's box

1. (Greek mythology) A box given to Pandora by Zeus, whose instructions stated that it must not be opened, and were then ignored, leading to disastrous consequences.

Noun

Pandora's box (plural Pandora's boxes)

1. (idiomatic) A source of unforeseen trouble.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, page 16:

     There was an evil in Pandora's box
     Beyond all other ones, yet it came forth
     In guise so lovely, that men crowded round
     And sought it as the dearest of all treasure.

Translations

a source of unforeseen trouble

Albanian: please add this translation if you can Arabic: please add this translation if you can Armenian: Պանդորայի արկղ (Pandorayi arkł) Bashkir: Пандора ҡумтаһы (Pandora qumtahı) Basque: please add this translation if you can Chinese: Mandarin: 潘多拉魔盒 (zh) (Pānduōlā móhé), 災難之源／灾难之源 (zāinàn zhī yuán) Czech: Pandořina skříňka f Danish: Pandoras æske c Esperanto: skatolo de Pandora Finnish: Pandoran lipas (fi) French: boîte de Pandore (fr) f Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Pandorabüchse f, Büchse der Pandora f Greek: κουτί της Πανδώρας n (koutí tis Pandóras) Hebrew: תיבת פנדורה‎ (he) f Hungarian: Pandóra szelencéje (hu) Italian: vaso di Pandora m Japanese: パンドラの箱 (パンドラのはこ, Pandora no hako), パンドーラーの箱 (パンドーラーのはこ, Pandōrā no hako), 玉手箱 (たまてばこ, tamatebako) (treasure box from "Urashima Taro" tale) Korean: 판도라의 상자 (pandoraui sangja) Latvian: Pandoras lāde f Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: pandoraeske Polish: puszka Pandory (pl) Portuguese: caixa de Pandora (pt) f Russian: я́щик Пандо́ры (ru) m (jáščik Pandóry) Spanish: caja de Pandora f Swedish: Pandoras ask c, pandorasask (sv) c Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: Pandora'nın kutusu

See also

• can of worms
• genie is out of the bottle
• kettle of fish
• open Pandora's box