What people say
Right palm means money coming in, left means money going out.Body · 2,590 searches a month
Itchy palm
Right palm means money coming in, left means money going out.
When it actually starts
How old is this one
First recorded
Roman era; Pliny mentions palm omens
That makes it
about 1,976 years old
Rank by age
7 oldest of 40 dated here
Category
Body
Searched
2,590 a month
Body omens — itching, twitching, sneezing — form the oldest and most widespread category of superstition, because the body produces small unexplained signals constantly and they invite interpretation.
What is going on
Dry skin, eczema or contact irritation. Persistent itching without a visible cause is worth showing to a doctor rather than reading.Where it applies. The sides reverse between regions — in parts of India and the Caribbean the left palm brings money, which means half the world is reading the same signal backwards.
Recorded around the same time
Itchy palm is the 7th oldest of the 40 dated superstitions here. Of those, 6 are younger than a century and 5 predate the common era.
First-recorded dates are the earliest documented appearance in written sources, not the earliest possible origin — an unrecorded practice can be older. How the dating works and where it is uncertain →