Meaning
So alike as to be nearly indistinguishable, whether in looks, character or habits; typically said of two people, sometimes affectionately of things. Standard in the patterns 'like two peas in a pod' and 'as alike as two peas in a pod'. Informal, warm and almost always complimentary or neutral. Informal and affectionate; used warmly of resemblance, never as a criticism. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The comparison is Elizabethan. The earliest citation given by The Phrase Finder is John Lyly's Euphues and his England (1580), where the twins of Hippocrates 'wer as lyke as one pease is to an other'. At that date the singular noun was 'pease'; the back-formed singular 'pea' only emerged in the 17th century when speakers reinterpreted 'pease' as a plural, as Grammarphobia explains elsewhere. The shorter simile 'as like as two peas' remained the usual form for centuries. The full 'in a pod' elaboration is much later: the earliest citation in Wiktionary for 'like two peas in a pod' is Randall Parrish's novel The Red Mist (1914). So the pea simile is solidly documented from 1580, while the now-dominant pod form appears to be an early-20th-century development, though intermediate examples may yet surface. The literal image needs no explanation: peas from one pod are notoriously hard to tell apart.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- as alike as two peas in a pod
- as like as two peas
- like two peas in a pod
- peas in a pod
Usage Examples
- The sisters are like two peas in a pod, right down to the way they fold their maps.
- You could hardly tell the restored panel from the original - the two were like two peas in a pod.
- Father and son, like two peas in a pod, both drum the steering wheel in exactly the same rhythm.