spill the beans
/spɪl ðə biːnz/
to tell a secret, often too early
In the video
The new office is a surprise, so the boss tells Peter: “Don’t spill the beans!” He carefully carries a big jar of beans around, while the whole team finds out about the office anyway. Peter is proud: “I didn’t spill a single bean!”
What it really means
If you knock over a jar of beans, they go everywhere and you can’t easily get them back. A secret is the same: once you tell it, you can’t take it back.
Some people say the phrase comes from voting with beans in ancient Greece, but there is no real proof of this. Just remember that it means telling a secret.
When to use it
Use it for surprises, news that isn’t public yet and gossip. It is casual and mostly spoken. In formal writing, use “disclose” or “reveal”.
Examples
- Who spilled the beans about the party?
- Don’t spill the beans! It’s a surprise.
- He finally spilled the beans about his new job.
Common mistake
✗ Don’t spill the bean.
✓ Don’t spill the beans.
“Beans” is always plural. This is a fixed phrase, so you can’t change it to “bean”.
Similar phrases
- let the cat out of the bag to tell a secret by accident, often a surprise
- give the game away to reveal a plan or the truth without meaning to