To bury the hatchet is an idiom meaning to end a quarrel or conflict and make peace. The phrase comes from a literal Native American practice: tribes would ceremonially bury a tomahawk or hatchet in the ground as a symbol of ended hostilities. The earliest recorded use in English dates to a 1754 letter from a British colonial official describing a peace ceremony between the Iroquois and the English.
The expression implies that the conflict is not just paused but permanently ended — the weapon is buried, not set aside for later use. It requires both parties to agree: one cannot unilaterally bury the hatchet; it takes mutual acknowledgment that the fight is over.
Why It Matters
The phrase is one of the most successful Native American loan concepts in English — so widely adopted that most speakers have forgotten its indigenous origin. It represents a specific vision of peace-making: not the absence of conflict, but the active, ritualized destruction of the means of conflict. You don’t just stop fighting; you make the weapons inaccessible.
In modern usage, “bury the hatchet” is often used in politics, family disputes, and business conflicts. It’s sometimes sincere and sometimes cynical — a way to claim reconciliation without actually resolving the underlying issues.
Examples
- Politics: “After years of rivalry, the two senators finally buried the hatchet.”
- Family: Siblings who haven’t spoken in decades agreeing to reconcile.
- Corporate: Competitors merging or partnering after a hostile period.
Related Terms
- Make peace, reconcile, call a truce
- Tomahawk, Native American diplomacy
- Conflict resolution, forgiveness, ceasefire