<P> "The pot calling the kettle black" is a proverbial idiom that seems to be of Spanish origin, versions of which began to appear in English in the first half of the 17th century . It is glossed in the original sources as being used of a person who is guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another and is thus an example of psychological projection . </P> <P> The earliest appearance of the idiom is in Thomas Shelton's 1620 translation of the Spanish novel Don Quixote . The protagonist is growing increasingly restive under the criticisms of his servant Sancho Panza, of which one is that "You are like what is said that the frying - pan said to the kettle,' Avant, black - browes' ." The Spanish text at this point reads: Dijo la sartén a la caldera, Quítate allá ojinegra (Said the pan to the pot, get out of there black - eyes). It is identified as a proverb (refrán) in the text, functioning as a retort to the person who criticises another of the same defect that he plainly has . Among several variations, the one where the pan addresses the pot as culinegra (black - arse) makes clear that they are dirtied in common by contact with the cooking fire . </P> <P> This version was also recorded in England soon afterwards as "The pot calls the pan burnt - arse" in John Clarke's collection of proverbs, Paroemiologia Anglo - Latina (1639). A nearer approach to the present wording is provided by William Penn in his collection Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims (1682): </P>

Where did the phrase the pot calling the kettle black come from