Meaning & Analysis
The proverb means two things (often people) are extremely similar—so alike that any difference is imperceptible, just as two peas are nearly identical in appearance.
Insights
Perfect Resemblance
The phrase is used to highlight cases of striking or complete similarity, whether in looks, behavior, or nature.
Indistinguishability
It implies that the objects of comparison cannot be told apart, stressing their absolute likeness in every relevant aspect.
Natural Imagery for Identity
Peas, being uniform in shape, size, and color when shelled, serve as a vivid natural model for expressing sameness—a motif that became proverbial in English from at least the sixteenth century.
Flexible Application
Writers and speakers have used this simile in a wide range of contexts, from twins and close friends to concepts or actions, attesting to its versatility and resonance.
International Parallels
Many languages employ similar imagery (beans, drops of water, etc.) to convey the idea of likeness, underscoring the universal human need to describe sameness with familiar natural objects.
Rhetorical Devices
Simile
Explicitly compares two entities using 'as like as,' making the similarity concrete and easy to visualize.
Imagery
Evokes the visual uniformity of peas to strengthen the impression of perfect likeness.
Repetition
Reinforces the theme of similarity by repeating the comparison in several variants ('two peas,' 'one pea is like another').
Transcription
Quotations
The Twinnes of Hippocrates, (who wer as lyke as one pease is to an other).
They would vaunt there was not a pease difference betwixt them.
One that is so like you, as one peaze is like another.
And will be as like her as one Pea's like another.
You know Rebellion and Witchcraft are as like as two Pease.
They're as like each other as are pease.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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