The idiom “pot calling the kettle black” means criticizing someone else for a fault that you possess yourself. It implies hypocrisy, where the accuser shares the same flaw they are pointing out in the other person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idiom likely originates from the similarity in appearance between a blackened pot and a blackened kettle when they are heated over a fire. In olden times, both cooking utensils were often made of metal and would become black from soot during the cooking process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When one accused the other of being black, it was an ironic observation since they both suffered the same “blackness.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n