French Idioms

A curated set of 868 idioms in French — literal translations, real meanings, and where each one comes from.

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• Ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard — It's nothing special or impressive. Literally: It doesn't break three legs of a duck.
• C'est comme pisser dans un violon — A completely pointless effort. Literally: It's like peeing in a violin.
• Avoir le cafard — To feel depressed or down. Literally: To have the cockroach.
• Poser un lapin — To stand someone up on a date. Literally: To put down a rabbit.
• Tomber dans les pommes — Suddenly losing consciousness — possibly derived from the older expression 'être dans les pommes cuites' (to be in the cooked apples), meaning to be utterly exhausted. Literally: To fall in the apples.
• Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez — To be getting angry. Literally: To have the mustard rising to the nose.
• Pédaler dans la semoule — To be confused and getting nowhere. Literally: To pedal in the semolina.
• Avoir d'autres chats à fouetter — To have more important things to do. Literally: To have other cats to whip.
• Raconter des salades — To tell lies or tall tales. Literally: To tell salads.
• En faire tout un fromage — To make a big deal out of nothing. Literally: To make a whole cheese out of it.
• Couper les cheveux en quatre — To over-analyze or split hairs. Literally: To cut hair in four.
• Se regarder le nombril — To be self-centered or narcissistic. Literally: To stare at one's own navel.
• Avoir le cul entre deux chaises — To be indecisive, caught between two options. Literally: To have one's butt between two chairs.
• Mettre son grain de sel — To give an unsolicited opinion. Literally: To add one's grain of salt.
• Les carottes sont cuites — It's too late, nothing can be done. Literally: The carrots are cooked.
• Casser les pieds à quelqu'un — To annoy or bore someone greatly. Literally: To break someone's feet.
• Avoir le beurre et l'argent du beurre — To want to have it both ways. Literally: To have the butter and the money for the butter.
• Noyer le poisson — To confuse the issue deliberately; to dodge a question. Literally: To drown the fish.
• Chercher midi à quatorze heures — To overcomplicate a simple matter. Literally: To look for noon at two in the afternoon.
• Appeler un chat un chat — To call things by their proper name; to speak bluntly. Literally: To call a cat a cat.
• Donner sa langue au chat — To give up trying to guess the answer. Literally: To give one's tongue to the cat.
• Avoir un poil dans la main — To be extremely lazy. Literally: To have a hair in the hand.
• Prendre ses jambes à son cou — To run away very fast. Literally: To take one's legs around one's neck.
• C'est la croix et la bannière — It is an enormous effort or ordeal. Literally: It is the cross and the banner.
• Faire la fine bouche — To be overly picky or hard to please. Literally: To make the fine mouth.
• Se lever du pied gauche — To wake up in a bad mood. Literally: To get up on the left foot.
• Avoir le vent en poupe — To be doing very well; everything is going your way. Literally: To have the wind at the stern.
• Mettre les pieds dans le plat — To put one's foot in it; to say something awkward or blunt. Literally: To put one's feet in the dish.
• Tourner autour du pot — To beat around the bush. Literally: To turn around the pot.
• Avoir la tête dans les nuages — To be a daydreamer; out of touch with reality. Literally: To have one's head in the clouds.
• Casser du sucre sur le dos de quelqu'un — To talk behind someone's back. Literally: To break sugar on someone's back.
• Jeter de l'huile sur le feu — To make a bad situation worse. Literally: To throw oil on the fire.
• Faire d'une pierre deux coups — To kill two birds with one stone. Literally: To make two blows with one stone.
• Faire d'une mouche un éléphant — To make a mountain out of a molehill; to exaggerate wildly. Literally: To make an elephant out of a fly.
• avoir des fourmis — Experiencing a tingling or prickling sensation in a limb losing circulation. Literally: to have ants.
• être sur des charbons ardents — Being extremely anxious or impatient about something. Literally: to be on hot coals.
• avoir un chat dans la gorge — Having difficulty speaking due to hoarseness or a sore throat. Literally: to have a cat in the throat.
• se battre contre les moulins à vent — Fighting a hopeless battle against something immovable or pointless. Literally: to fight against windmills.
• faire ses choux gras — Profiting greatly from a situation at someone else's expense. Literally: to make one's cabbages fat.
• avoir un tuyau — Having inside information or a useful tip about something. Literally: to have a pipe.
• être à court de — Lacking or running low on something essential. Literally: to be short of.
• avoir un bleu — Having a bruise on the skin from impact or injury. Literally: to have a blue.
• prendre ses rêves pour des réalités — Confusing fantasy with reality; living in delusion. Literally: to take one's dreams for realities.
• faire la pluie et le beau temps — Having complete control over a situation or someone's fate. Literally: to make the rain and fair weather.
• avoir une dent contre quelqu'un — Holding a grudge or resentment toward someone. Literally: to have a tooth against someone.
• tirer les vers du nez — Getting someone to reveal information they want to keep secret. Literally: to pull worms from the nose.
• avoir le trac — Feeling nervous or anxious before a performance or important event. Literally: to have the stage fright.
• faire la morte — Pretending not to notice something or ignoring a situation. Literally: to play dead.
• manger ses paroles — Having to take back or admit one was wrong about something said. Literally: to eat one's words.
• mettre l'eau à la bouche — Making someone crave or desire something through temptation. Literally: to put water in the mouth.
• avoir une grosse tête — Being arrogant, conceited, or thinking highly of oneself. Literally: to have a big head.
• tremper son biscuit — Engaging in a brief romantic or intimate encounter. Literally: to dip one's biscuit.
• faire un bide — Experiencing complete failure or lack of success. Literally: to make a belly.
• avoir la chair de poule — Experiencing fear, cold, or emotional reaction causing skin reaction. Literally: to have goosebumps.
• crier sur les toits — Announcing something publicly that should remain secret. Literally: to shout on the roofs.
• mettre son doigt sur la plaie — Identifying the exact problem or sensitive issue in a situation. Literally: to put one's finger on the wound.
• avoir un poisson d'avril — Being fooled by a prank or hoax on April 1st. Literally: to have an April fish.
• être une girouette — Being inconsistent, constantly changing opinions or allegiances. Literally: to be a weather vane.
• faire ses dents — A baby is teething and developing their first teeth. Literally: to make one's teeth.
• avoir le compas dans l'oeil — Having excellent judgment of distance, measurement, or proportion. Literally: to have a compass in the eye.
• faire la soupe à la grimace — Complaining or grumbling about something constantly. Literally: to make grimace soup.
• avoir les pieds qui démangent — Wanting to travel or move to a different place. Literally: to have itchy feet.
• être aux petits soins — Receiving attentive, careful treatment and consideration from someone. Literally: to be at small cares.
• montrer les dents — Displaying aggression, defiance, or readiness to fight. Literally: to show the teeth.
• avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre — Taking more food than one can actually eat; wanting too much. Literally: to have eyes bigger than the belly.
• faire un esclandre — Creating a public disturbance or embarrassing scene. Literally: to make a scandal.
• être un ours — Being unfriendly, grumpy, and difficult to approach socially. Literally: to be a bear.
• avoir une mémoire d'éléphant — Having exceptional ability to remember details over time. Literally: to have an elephant's memory.
• faire la fortune de quelqu'un — Bringing great wealth or success to another person. Literally: to make someone's fortune.
• avoir une langue de vipère — Speaking maliciously, spreading rumors, or being verbally cruel. Literally: to have a viper's tongue.
• être sur la brèche — Being actively engaged in battle or difficult work. Literally: to be on the breach.
• faire ses griffes — Practicing or preparing oneself for a challenging task or confrontation. Literally: to sharpen one's claws.
• manger du bout des lèvres — Eating without appetite or showing disinterest in the meal. Literally: to eat with the tips of lips.
• avoir une peur bleue — Being terrified or extremely frightened of something. Literally: to have a blue fear.
• être du voyage — Being involved in an illicit or questionable scheme. Literally: to be of the journey.
• faire le gendarme — Acting authoritarian or enforcing rules with excessive zeal. Literally: to play the policeman.
• avoir des étoiles dans les yeux — Being dreamy, hopeful, or enchanted by romantic ideals. Literally: to have stars in the eyes.
• faire un couac — Making an embarrassing mistake or producing a discordant sound. Literally: to make a squawk.
• Quand les poules auront des dents — Never — it describes something that will simply never happen. Literally: When hens have teeth.
• Il y a anguille sous roche — Something suspicious is quietly going on beneath the surface. Literally: There is an eel under the rock.
• Ménager la chèvre et le chou — To try to please both sides of a conflict without committing to either. Literally: To spare both the goat and the cabbage.
• Avoir la gueule de bois — To be hungover. Literally: To have a wooden snout.
• Filer à l'anglaise — To leave discreetly without saying goodbye. Literally: To slip away English-style.
• Se mettre sur son trente-et-un — To dress up in your very best clothes. Literally: To put oneself on one's thirty-one.
• Les doigts dans le nez — To do something with the greatest of ease. Literally: To do it with fingers in the nose.
• Tomber dans le panneau — To fall for a trick or scam. Literally: To fall into the panel.
• Avoir un cœur d'artichaut — To fall in love easily and often. Literally: To have an artichoke heart.
• Faire la grasse matinée — To sleep in and have a lazy lie-in. Literally: To do the fat morning.
• Avoir le bras long — To have influence and useful connections. Literally: To have a long arm.
• Découvrir le pot aux roses — To uncover a hidden secret. Literally: To discover the pot of roses.
• Être dans de beaux draps — To be in a real mess. Literally: To be in fine sheets.
• Se faire rouler dans la farine — To be conned or deceived. Literally: To get rolled in flour.
• Tirer le diable par la queue — To struggle to make ends meet. Literally: To pull the devil by the tail.
• Passer du coq à l'âne — To switch topics abruptly and illogically. Literally: To jump from the rooster to the donkey.
• Avoir le melon — To be bigheaded and conceited. Literally: To have the melon.
• Mettre la charrue avant les bœufs — To do things in the wrong order. Literally: To put the plough before the oxen.
• Avoir le cœur sur la main — To be very generous and giving. Literally: To have your heart on your hand.
• Tirer son épingle du jeu — To extract yourself cleverly from a tricky situation. Literally: To pull your pin out of the game.
• Être soupe au lait — To be quick-tempered and flare up easily. Literally: To be milk soup.
• Ne pas être sorti de l'auberge — To be far from done with one's troubles. Literally: To not be out of the inn yet.
• Avoir la pêche — To be full of energy and on top form. Literally: To have the peach.
• Faire chou blanc — To draw a complete blank; to fail. Literally: To make a white cabbage.
• Avoir une araignée au plafond — To be a little crazy. Literally: To have a spider on the ceiling.
• Ramener sa fraise — To butt in or show off uninvited. Literally: To bring back your strawberry.
• Ça m'en touche une sans faire bouger l'autre — I couldn't care less; it leaves me utterly indifferent. Literally: It touches one of mine without moving the other.
• Prendre son pied — To take intense pleasure; to have a wonderful time. Literally: To take one's foot.
• Il pleut comme vache qui pisse — It's pouring down — a crude, vivid way to say the rain is coming down extremely hard. Literally: It rains like a cow that pisses.
• Mettre la puce à l'oreille — To arouse someone's suspicion or make them uneasy about something. Literally: To put the flea in the ear.
• Sortir de ses gonds — To fly into a rage; to lose one's temper suddenly and violently. Literally: To come off its hinges.
• Reprendre du poil de la bête — To recover one's strength or spirit after a setback; to bounce back. Literally: To take back some hair of the beast.
• Arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupe — To show up at a completely inopportune, awkward moment. Literally: To arrive like a hair in the soup.
• Jeter le bébé avec l'eau du bain — To discard something valuable while getting rid of what's unwanted. Literally: To throw the baby out with the bathwater.
• C'est l'hôpital qui se fout de la charité — Said when someone criticizes another for a flaw they share themselves; the pot calling the kettle black. Literally: It's the hospital making fun of the charity ward.
• allonger pour le compte — To knock someone out in a boxing match; to fell someone. Literally: to lengthen for the count.
• avancer masqué — To act in a hidden or anonymous way, concealing one's intentions or identity. Literally: to advance masked.
• passer un savon — To scold or rebuke someone harshly. Literally: to pass a soap.
• tenir du miracle — To be exceptional or extraordinary; to have a miraculous quality. Literally: to hold of the miracle.
• ne pas fermer l’œil de la nuit — To be unable to sleep; to stay awake all night. Literally: to not close the eye of the night.
• baisser pavillon — To concede defeat or accept inferiority; to surrender. Literally: to lower the pavilion.
• réduire la voilure — To cut back on spending, resources, or ambitions. Literally: to reduce the sail.
• être dos au mur — To be in a desperate situation with no way to retreat or escape. Literally: to be back to the wall.
• se mettre la rate au court-bouillon — To worry pointlessly and obsessively over something. Literally: to put one's spleen into quick-boiled broth.
• prendre à la gorge — To seize someone or something forcefully; to make breathing or speech difficult; to trigger strong emotion that leaves one breathless. Literally: to take by the throat.
• regarder la pointe de ses souliers — To lower one's eyes in embarrassment or shame. Literally: to look at the tip of one's shoes.
• chercher des misères — To deliberately provoke a quarrel with someone. Literally: to search for miseries.
• faire florès — To achieve success and build a reputation. Literally: to make flowers.
• fuir comme la peste — To avoid something or someone as much as possible. Literally: to flee like the plague.
• beurrer épais — To exaggerate or overdo something. Literally: to butter thick.
• mettre ses deux mains au feu — To stake one's reputation or safety by guaranteeing something is true. Literally: to put both hands in the fire.
• tendre les bras — To offer help and support to someone, or to welcome them warmly. Literally: to stretch out one's arms.
• retourner à la case départ — To find oneself back where one began, as if no progress had been made. Literally: to return to the starting square.
• sentir la naphtaline — To be old-fashioned or antiquated. Literally: to smell of mothballs.
• passer maître — To become the foremost expert in something. Literally: to pass master.
• plumer la poule sans la faire crier — To extract money or advantage from someone so skillfully that they do not complain or resist. Literally: to pluck the hen without making her cry.
• compter sur les doigts d’une main — To be so few in number that they can be counted on five fingers or fewer. Literally: to count on the fingers of one hand.
• faire fureur — To provoke great enthusiasm or widespread popularity. Literally: to make fury.
• tirer l’oreille — To scold or reprimand someone. Literally: to pull the ear.
• pousser les feux — To intensify effort or energy; to redouble one's exertions to achieve a goal. Literally: to push the fires.
• courir après les cotillons — To pursue amorous or romantic adventures. Literally: to run after the cotillions.
• tirer les oreilles — To scold someone harshly or punish them. Literally: to pull the ears.
• avoir de la tchatche — To be talkative and persuasive, to have the gift of gab. Literally: to have some tchatche.
• tomber à l’eau — To be canceled or abandoned. Literally: to fall into the water.
• ne plus savoir où donner de la tête — To be overwhelmed with work or demands. Literally: to no longer know where to put one's head.
• avoir les yeux qui sortent de la tête — To stare with eyes wide open in anger or astonishment. Literally: to have eyes that come out of the head.
• faire le pont-levis — For a horse to rear up very high. Literally: to make the drawbridge.
• faire baiser les verges — To force someone you have mistreated to beg your pardon. Literally: to make kiss the rods.
• retourner l’estomac — To disgust or sicken someone, to make them feel nauseous. Literally: to turn over the stomach.
• remonter plus haut — To begin a story or explanation at an earlier point in time to clarify or better illuminate the facts. Literally: to go back higher.
• être victime de son succès — To suffer problems or difficulties that arise as a result of becoming too successful. Literally: to be victim of one's success.
• ne pas garder les yeux dans sa poche — To be observant and alert; to miss nothing. Literally: to not keep the eyes in one's pocket.
• n’avoir qu’à bien se tenir — A warning or threat implying that one must behave properly or face consequences. Literally: to have only to hold oneself well.
• battre les fourrés — To range far and wide in search of adventure or chance encounters. Literally: to beat the thickets.
• donner du poing sur la table — To express strong disagreement or disapproval with a situation. Literally: to give a fist on the table.
• avoir sur les bras — To be burdened with or responsible for someone or something; to be occupied with a demanding task or person. Literally: to have on one's arms.
• recoller les morceaux — to repair a broken relationship or reconcile after a quarrel. Literally: to glue the pieces back together.
• brûler ses dernières cartouches — to exhaust one's final resources or use one's last arguments in desperation. Literally: to burn one's last cartridges.
• ne s’être pas regardé — to judge others harshly while being blind to one's own equal or greater faults. Literally: not to have looked at oneself.
• ne pas tourner rond — to be unwell or not functioning properly. Literally: not to turn round.
• passer un mauvais quart d’heure — to experience a brief but unpleasant or distressing moment. Literally: to pass a bad quarter of an hour.
• envoyer des piques — To make cutting or barbed remarks intended to irritate or provoke someone. Literally: to send pikes.
• prendre le maquis — To go into hiding or join a resistance movement to escape authority or persecution. Literally: to take the maquis.
• ne pas en croire ses oreilles — To be startled or disbelieving upon hearing something astonishing. Literally: to not be able to believe one's ears.
• se composer le visage — To adopt a serious or carefully studied expression suited to the circumstances. Literally: to compose oneself the face.
• prendre le train en marche — To join opportunely in an action or endeavor already underway. Literally: to take the train in motion.
• aiguiser ses couteaux — To prepare oneself for conflict or confrontation. Literally: to sharpen one's knives.
• passer le Rubicon — To make a decisive, irrevocable commitment or choice with serious consequences. Literally: to pass the Rubicon.
• être de mauvais poil — To be in a bad mood or irritable disposition. Literally: to be of bad hair.
• être à ramasser à la petite cuiller — To be completely exhausted, utterly without strength. Literally: to be fit to be picked up with a small spoon.
• casser le nez à coups d’encensoir — To offer someone clumsy, exaggerated, and insincere flattery to their face. Literally: to break the nose with blows of an incense-burner.
• se casser la figure — To fall to the ground; to have an accident or suffer a collapse. Literally: to break oneself the figure.
• péter une baloune — To cause deep disappointment; to shatter someone's illusions or hopes. Literally: to burst a balloon.
• être du propre — Used ironically to criticize something as morally or physically filthy. Literally: to be the clean.
• remuer ciel et terre — To exert all possible effort and use every available means to achieve a goal. Literally: to stir sky and earth.
• joindre le geste à la parole — To back up what you say with action; to keep your promises. Literally: to join the gesture to the word.
• mettre à terre — To defeat or knock someone down. Literally: to put to earth.
• faire dresser l’oreille — To catch someone's attention or spark their interest. Literally: to make the ear stand up.
• renaître de ses cendres — To rise again and flourish after near-total destruction. Literally: to be reborn from its ashes.
• se payer la tête de quelqu'un — To mock or ridicule someone. Literally: to treat oneself to someone's head.
• avoir les sangs tournés — To be profoundly shocked or horrified. Literally: to have one's bloods turned.
• donner un coup de pied dans la fourmilière — To strike a major blow or take bold action that stirs up considerable agitation and controversy. Literally: to give a kick into the anthill.
• fourrer son nez dans les affaires de quelqu'un — To meddle or pry indiscreetly into someone else's affairs. Literally: to stick one's nose into someone's business.
• griller les neurones — To drive someone insane or cause them to go mad. Literally: to burn out the neurons.
• passer d'un excès à l'autre — To swing from one extreme to the opposite extreme without ever finding moderation. Literally: to pass from one excess to the other.
• remettre en selle — To help someone recover a former position or regain their footing after a setback. Literally: to put back in the saddle.
• prendre des gants — To handle a delicate matter with great tact and care to avoid offending someone. Literally: to take gloves.
• remettre en train — To restart or reactivate something that has stopped or slowed down. Literally: to put back in train.
• ça pique — It is very expensive or causes financial pain. Literally: it stings.
• vendre chèrement sa peau — To defend oneself fiercely and make a determined stand against those trying to kill you. Literally: to sell one's skin dearly.
• C'est pas tes oignons — That's none of your business. Literally: It's not your onions.
• C'est la fin des haricots — It's all over; there's no hope left. Literally: It's the end of the beans.
• Le dindon de la farce — The dupe — the victim of a trick who ends up everyone's laughingstock. Literally: The turkey of the stuffing.
• Montrer patte blanche — To produce the credentials needed to be let in somewhere. Literally: To show a white paw.
• Tenir la dragée haute à quelqu'un — To keep someone waiting before granting what they ask, so they feel the power you hold over them. Literally: To hold the sugared almond high.
• Sucrer les fraises — To have trembling hands; by extension, to be doddering. Literally: To sugar the strawberries.
• Les Anglais ont débarqué — To have one's period. Literally: The English have landed.
• S'envoyer en l'air — To have sex. Literally: To send oneself into the air.
• Sacrifier à Vénus — To have sex. Literally: To sacrifice to Venus.
• La langue de bois — Rigid, evasive doublespeak — language cut off from reality that carries a deliberately rigged message. Literally: The wooden tongue.
• Sentir le fagot — To reek of heresy; more broadly, to arouse suspicion or invite condemnation. Literally: To smell of the firewood bundle.
• Faire ses ablutions — To wash oneself; to do one's daily toilet. Literally: To perform one's ablutions.
• Bouché à l'émeri — Dense, obtuse, narrow-minded; incapable of understanding. Literally: Stoppered with emery.
• Griller un feu — To drive through a traffic light that is red. Literally: To grill a light.
• Éclairer la lanterne de quelqu'un — To supply the missing detail that lets someone finally understand. Literally: To light someone's lantern.
• Outre mesure — Excessively, unreasonably, to an unwarranted degree. Literally: Beyond measure.
• Une nuit blanche — A sleepless night. Literally: A white night.
• Une parole d'évangile — An incontestable truth. Literally: A word of gospel.
• Être comme l'âne de Buridan — To be so paralyzed between two equally attractive options that you choose neither. Literally: To be like Buridan's donkey.
• Rire comme une baleine — To laugh uproariously, with your mouth wide open. Literally: To laugh like a whale.
• Un vent à décorner les bœufs — A ferociously strong wind. Literally: A wind to dehorn the oxen.
• La bave du crapaud n'atteint pas la blanche colombe — Insults from a contemptible source cannot touch the person they target. Literally: The toad's slobber does not reach the white dove.
• Savoir où le bât blesse — To know exactly where the real difficulty or sore point lies. Literally: To know where the packsaddle chafes.
• Faire un bœuf — To improvise music together; to hold a jam session. Literally: To do an ox.
• Rire comme un bossu — To laugh helplessly and without restraint. Literally: To laugh like a hunchback.
• Compter pour du beurre — To count for nothing; to be disregarded. Literally: To count for butter.
• Mettre du beurre dans les épinards — To improve one's financial situation; to make life a bit more comfortable. Literally: To put butter in the spinach.
• Beurré comme un p'tit Lu — Thoroughly drunk. Literally: Buttered like a little Lu.
• Un compte d'apothicaire — A needlessly complicated calculation, usually one padded in the biller's favor. Literally: An apothecary's bill.
• Tailler une bavette — To have a long, friendly chat. Literally: To cut a bib.
• Une auberge espagnole — A place or discussion in which you find only what you yourself brought to it. Literally: A Spanish inn.
• Ne pas être dans son assiette — To feel out of sorts, physically or mentally off-form. Literally: Not to be in one's plate.
• Se défendre bec et ongles — To fight back with everything you have. Literally: To defend oneself with beak and nails.
• Connaître bibliquement — To have had sex with someone. Literally: To know biblically.
• Se faire de la bile — To worry oneself sick. Literally: To make bile for oneself.
• Dans le plus simple appareil — Stark naked. Literally: In the simplest apparatus.
• L'arbre qui cache la forêt — A conspicuous detail that distracts attention from the larger reality behind it. Literally: The tree that hides the forest.
• Jeter son bonnet par-dessus les moulins — To throw propriety to the wind and stop caring what people think. Literally: To throw one's bonnet over the windmills.
• Un baroud d'honneur — A last stand fought for honor when defeat is already certain. Literally: A fight of honor.
• Un ange passe — Said to acknowledge a sudden awkward silence in a conversation. Literally: An angel is passing.
• Être aux anges — To be overjoyed, in raptures. Literally: To be at the angels.
• Être aux abonnés absents — To be unreachable, or to fail to show up when needed. Literally: To be among the absent subscribers.
• Accuser réception — To acknowledge that something has been received. Literally: To accuse receipt.
• Par acquit de conscience — To do something merely to be sure, so as to leave nothing on your conscience. Literally: By acquittal of conscience.
• La perfide Albion — A hostile nickname for England, cast as habitually treacherous in its diplomacy. Literally: Perfidious Albion.
• Alea jacta est — The decision is irrevocable and there is no turning back. Literally: The die is cast.
• De bon aloi — Genuine and of good quality; its opposite, de mauvais aloi, means dubious or in poor taste. Literally: Of good alloy.
• L'alpha et l'oméga — The beginning and the end; the entirety of something, or its essential principle. Literally: The alpha and the omega.
• Vendre son âme au diable — To sacrifice one's principles for power, wealth or success. Literally: To sell one's soul to the devil.
• Faire amende honorable — To publicly admit you were wrong and apologize. Literally: To make honorable amends.
• Bon an, mal an — On average, taking the good years with the bad; year in, year out. Literally: Good year, bad year.
• Le libre arbitre — Free will — the capacity to choose independently of compulsion. Literally: Free arbitration.
• L'argent n'a pas d'odeur — Money is money regardless of how disreputably it was earned. Literally: Money has no smell.
• Une Arlésienne — A person or thing endlessly talked about but who never actually appears. Literally: A woman from Arles.
• Signer son arrêt de mort — To take an action that guarantees your own downfall. Literally: To sign one's own death warrant.
• Un homme de l'art — A qualified professional, especially a physician. Literally: A man of the art.
• C'est du grand art — That is masterfully done. Literally: That is great art.
• L'enfance de l'art — Utterly elementary; child's play. Literally: The infancy of the art.
• À l'article de la mort — At the very point of dying. Literally: At the article of death.
• De bon augure — A promising sign; its opposite, de mauvais augure, means ominous. Literally: Of good augury.
• Mesurer à l'aune de — To judge something by a particular standard. Literally: To measure by the ell of.
• L'avocat du diable — Someone who argues a position they do not hold in order to test it. Literally: The devil's advocate.
• Dans tous les azimuts — In every direction at once; scattered and unfocused. Literally: In all azimuths.
• Une tour de Babel — A place of hopeless confusion, especially one where nobody speaks the same language. Literally: A tower of Babel.
• Plier bagage — To pack up and clear off, usually in a hurry. Literally: To fold up baggage.
• Ça fait un bail — It has been ages. Literally: That makes a lease.
• Un baiser de Judas — A show of affection that conceals a betrayal. Literally: A kiss of Judas.
• La balle est dans votre camp — It is your turn to act; the decision now rests with you. Literally: The ball is in your camp.
• Convoquer le ban et l'arrière-ban — To call in absolutely everyone available. Literally: To summon the ban and the rear-ban.
• Une république bananière — A corrupt, unstable state run for the benefit of a few private interests. Literally: A banana republic.
• Un travail de bénédictin — Painstaking, patient scholarly labor demanding enormous persistence. Literally: A Benedictine's work.
• Le benjamin — The youngest member of a family, team or group. Literally: The Benjamin.
• C'est la Bérézina — A total, chaotic disaster. Literally: It's the Berezina.
• Chercher la petite bête — To nitpick; to hunt for a trivial fault. Literally: To look for the little beast.
• Passer sur le billard — To undergo surgery. Literally: To go onto the billiard table.
• Se faire blackbouler — To be rejected, voted down or heavily defeated in an election. Literally: To get black-balled.
• Une arme blanche — A bladed weapon, as opposed to a firearm. Literally: A white weapon.
• Blanchir de l'argent — To launder money. Literally: To whiten money.
• Au petit bonheur la chance — Haphazardly, leaving the outcome entirely to chance. Literally: At little happiness, luck.
• Avoir la bosse de — To have a natural gift for something, as in avoir la bosse des maths. Literally: To have the bump for.
• Rabattre le caquet à quelqu'un — To shut someone up; to take an insolent person down a peg. Literally: To beat down someone's cackle.
• Caracoler en tête — To lead by a wide margin, especially in a race or in polls. Literally: To caracole at the head.
• Muet comme une carpe — Completely silent; saying absolutely nothing. Literally: Mute as a carp.
• La caque sent toujours le hareng — However far you rise, low origins always show through. Literally: The barrel always smells of herring.
• Aller à Canossa — To humble oneself completely before someone; to submit and beg forgiveness. Literally: To go to Canossa.
• Parler à la cantonade — To speak to a group at large without addressing anyone in particular. Literally: To speak to the cantonade.
• Un capitaine d'industrie — The head of a large company. Literally: A captain of industry.
• Il n'y a pas loin du Capitole à la roche Tarpéienne — Glory and disgrace are close neighbors — the fall can follow the honors very quickly. Literally: It is not far from the Capitol to the Tarpeian Rock.
• Arriver comme les carabiniers — To turn up far too late, when everything is already over. Literally: To arrive like the carabineers.
• Le dernier carat — The very last moment; the absolute limit. Literally: The last carat.
• Un bouc émissaire — A scapegoat — someone blamed for the failings of others. Literally: An emissary goat.
• Un boute-en-train — The life and soul of the party. Literally: A put-in-motion.
• Ruer dans les brancards — To rebel against constraint or authority. Literally: To kick in the shafts.
• À bride abattue — At full tilt, at breakneck speed. Literally: With the bridle down.
• Vouloir faire passer un chameau par le chas d'une aiguille — To attempt something manifestly impossible. Literally: To try to pass a camel through the eye of a needle.
• Acheter chat en poche — To buy something sight unseen, and be cheated. Literally: To buy a cat in a bag.
• Il n'y a pas un chat — There is nobody around at all. Literally: There isn't a cat.
• À cheval donné on ne regarde pas les dents — Do not find fault with a gift. Literally: One does not look at the teeth of a given horse.
• Monter sur ses grands chevaux — To take offense and react with indignant superiority. Literally: To get up on one's tall horses.
• Un cheval de Troie — A gift or arrangement that conceals a hostile purpose. Literally: A Trojan horse.
• C'est le chien de Jean de Nivelle — Said of someone who makes himself scarce precisely when he is called. Literally: It's Jean de Nivelle's dog.
• Les chiens ne font pas des chats — Children inevitably resemble their parents. Literally: Dogs do not make cats.
• Les chiens aboient et la caravane passe — Criticism from bystanders does not stop those who are getting on with it. Literally: The dogs bark and the caravan passes.
• Ne pas attacher son chien avec des saucisses — To be extremely tight-fisted. Literally: Not to tie one's dog up with sausages.
• Un temps de chien — Filthy, miserable weather. Literally: A dog's weather.
• Mettre les bouchées doubles — To work twice as hard in order to catch up. Literally: To take double mouthfuls.
• La dive bouteille — Wine, treated with mock reverence. Literally: The divine bottle.
• Boire le calice jusqu'à la lie — To endure an ordeal all the way to its most humiliating end. Literally: To drink the chalice down to the dregs.
• La cerise sur le gâteau — A final touch that completes something already good — often said sarcastically of a last straw. Literally: The cherry on the cake.
• Ni chair ni poisson — Neither one thing nor the other; impossible to classify. Literally: Neither flesh nor fish.
• Clouer le bec à quelqu'un — To silence someone completely, usually with an unanswerable reply. Literally: To nail someone's beak shut.
• Se crêper le chignon — To have a furious quarrel — said of women. Literally: To frizz each other's bun.
• Avoir les yeux de Chimène pour quelqu'un — To be visibly smitten with someone or something. Literally: To have Chimène's eyes for someone.
• Se faire des cheveux blancs — To worry oneself sick. Literally: To make oneself white hairs.
• Haut les cœurs ! — Take courage; lift your spirits. Literally: Up with the hearts!.
• Aux calendes grecques — Never — used of something postponed indefinitely. Literally: At the Greek calends.
• Un cautère sur une jambe de bois — A remedy that is completely useless. Literally: A cautery on a wooden leg.
• Scier la branche sur laquelle on est assis — To destroy the thing your own position depends on. Literally: To saw the branch one is sitting on.
• Tomber de Charybde en Scylla — To escape one danger only to meet a worse one. Literally: To fall from Charybdis into Scylla.
• Proposer la botte à quelqu'un — To proposition someone sexually. Literally: To propose the thrust to someone.
• Pousser le bouchon un peu loin — To go too far; to overstep. Literally: To push the cork a bit far.
• Tirer à boulets rouges — To attack someone ferociously and without restraint. Literally: To fire with red cannonballs.
• Sans bourse délier — Without spending a penny. Literally: Without untying the purse.
• Un branle-bas de combat — Frantic preparation; a general commotion. Literally: A hammock-down for combat.
• Battre en brèche — To attack a position or argument until it collapses. Literally: To beat into a breach.
• Une brève de comptoir — An overheard bar-room witticism, usually absurd and unintentionally profound. Literally: A counter brief.
• Cela va faire du bruit dans Landerneau — That is going to cause a stir. Literally: That will make noise in Landerneau.
• Brut de décoffrage — Rough, unpolished, delivered without any finishing. Literally: Raw from the formwork.
• De but en blanc — Point-blank; abruptly and without preparation. Literally: From butt to white.
• Avoir un cadavre dans le placard — To have a discreditable secret in one's past. Literally: To have a corpse in the cupboard.
• C'est le cadet de mes soucis — It is the very least of my concerns. Literally: It's the youngest of my worries.
• Fumer le calumet de la paix — To make peace after a quarrel. Literally: To smoke the peace pipe.
• Enterrer la hache de guerre — To end a feud and set hostilities aside. Literally: To bury the war hatchet.
• Carpe diem — Make the most of the present rather than counting on the future. Literally: Seize the day.
• S'aplatir comme une carpette — To grovel; to let oneself be walked over. Literally: To flatten oneself like a rug.
• Rester sur le carreau — To be knocked out of the running; to be left for dead. Literally: To be left on the tiling.
• Rouler carrosse — To live in grand style. Literally: To roll a carriage.
• Donner carte blanche — To grant someone complete freedom to act as they see fit. Literally: To give a white card.
• Tourner casaque — To switch sides or change allegiance. Literally: To turn one's tabard.
• Retourner sa veste — To change one's allegiance opportunistically. Literally: To turn one's jacket inside out.
• Coiffer Sainte Catherine — To reach twenty-five while still unmarried — said of a woman. Literally: To coif Saint Catherine.
• Être sujet à caution — To be unreliable; not to be taken at face value. Literally: To be subject to surety.
• Caviarder un texte — To censor a piece of writing by blacking out passages. Literally: To caviar a text.
• Se serrer la ceinture — To economize and go without. Literally: To tighten one's belt.
• La femme de César ne doit pas être soupçonnée — Those in public office must be above even the appearance of wrongdoing. Literally: Caesar's wife must not be suspected.
• Se réduire comme une peau de chagrin — To dwindle away steadily until nothing is left. Literally: To shrink like a piece of shagreen.
• Appuyer sur le champignon — To accelerate hard; to floor it. Literally: To press on the mushroom.
• Devoir une fière chandelle à quelqu'un — To owe someone a considerable debt of gratitude. Literally: To owe someone a proud candle.
• Le jeu n'en vaut pas la chandelle — The effort or cost outweighs anything to be gained. Literally: The game is not worth the candle.
• Tenir la chandelle — To be the awkward third party to a couple. Literally: To hold the candle.
• Sur les chapeaux de roues — At top speed; also, of a start, immediately and forcefully. Literally: On the wheel hubcaps.
• Avoir voix au chapitre — To have a say in a decision. Literally: To have a voice in the chapter.
• Trouver chaussure à son pied — To find exactly the right match, usually a partner. Literally: To find a shoe for one's foot.
• Ne pas y aller par quatre chemins — To come straight to the point. Literally: Not to go by four roads.
• Tous les chemins mènent à Rome — There are many routes to the same result. Literally: All roads lead to Rome.
• Un chevalier d'industrie — A swindler who lives by his wits at others' expense. Literally: A knight of industry.
• La cheville ouvrière — The linchpin — the person or thing on which an entire operation turns. Literally: The working pin.
• Une chiffe molle — A spineless person with no will of their own. Literally: A soft rag.
• Être au septième ciel — To be in a state of perfect happiness. Literally: To be in the seventh heaven.
• Mettre la clé sous la porte — To shut up shop; to go out of business. Literally: To put the key under the door.
• Ne pas être grand clerc — Not to be much of an expert — used to say that no expertise is needed to see something. Literally: Not to be a great clerk.
• Déménager à la cloche de bois — To do a moonlight flit, leaving without paying the rent. Literally: To move out by the wooden bell.
• Rater le coche — To miss an opportunity through being too slow. Literally: To miss the coach.
• Être coiffé au poteau — To be beaten by a hair right at the finish. Literally: To be capped at the post.
• Donner de la confiture à un cochon — To waste something fine on someone incapable of appreciating it. Literally: To give jam to a pig.
• Un corbeau — The anonymous author of poison-pen letters. Literally: A crow.
• Bayer aux corneilles — To stand around idly, staring into space. Literally: To gape at the crows.
• Un panier de crabes — A group whose members constantly undermine one another. Literally: A basket of crabs.
• Chat échaudé craint l'eau froide — One bad experience makes you wary even where there is no danger. Literally: A scalded cat fears cold water.
• Une faim de loup — Ravenous hunger. Literally: A wolf's hunger.
• Tailler des croupières à quelqu'un — To harass an opponent and make life difficult for them. Literally: To cut someone's crupper straps.
• Mettre le pied à l'étrier à quelqu'un — To give someone the help they need to get started. Literally: To put someone's foot in the stirrup.
• Gagner ses éperons — To prove oneself and earn recognition. Literally: To win one's spurs.
• Un mauvais coucheur — A cantankerous, difficult person. Literally: A bad bedfellow.
• Un cordon-bleu — An outstanding cook. Literally: A blue ribbon.
• Il y a loin de la coupe aux lèvres — Much can still go wrong between intention and result. Literally: It is far from the cup to the lips.
• Né avec une cuillère d'argent dans la bouche — Born into wealth and advantage. Literally: Born with a silver spoon in the mouth.
• Des économies de bouts de chandelle — Petty economies that save nothing worth having. Literally: Candle-end savings.
• Un étouffe-chrétien — Food so dense and stodgy it is hard to swallow. Literally: A Christian-choker.
• Mettre de l'eau dans son vin — To moderate one's demands or soften one's position. Literally: To put water in one's wine.
• De derrière les fagots — The very best, kept back for a special occasion. Literally: From behind the firewood.
• Avoir les coudées franches — To have complete freedom of action. Literally: To have free elbow-lengths.
• Battre sa coulpe — To publicly acknowledge one's own wrongdoing. Literally: To beat one's fault.
• Le petit doigt sur la couture du pantalon — Standing rigidly to attention; obeying without question. Literally: Little finger on the trouser seam.
• Ôter une épine du pied à quelqu'un — To relieve someone of a persistent difficulty. Literally: To take a thorn out of someone's foot.
• Un écorché vif — Someone painfully hypersensitive to everything around them. Literally: A flayed-alive man.
• Se croire sorti de la cuisse de Jupiter — To have an absurdly high opinion of one's own importance. Literally: To think oneself born from Jupiter's thigh.
• Le tonneau des Danaïdes — A hopeless undertaking that consumes everything and is never finished. Literally: The barrel of the Danaids.
• Au diable vauvert — Miles from anywhere; the back of beyond. Literally: At the devil's Vauvert.
• Il n'y a pas le feu au lac — There's no rush. Literally: The lake isn't on fire.
• Par l'opération du Saint-Esprit — By some unexplained miracle — said sarcastically of something nobody will account for. Literally: By the operation of the Holy Spirit.
• Au creux de la vague — At a low point, with the expectation that things will rise again. Literally: In the trough of the wave.
• Nager entre deux eaux — To avoid committing to either side. Literally: To swim between two waters.
• Une coupe sombre — A drastic reduction, especially of staff or budget. Literally: A dark cutting.
• Nettoyer les écuries d'Augias — To clear up a vast accumulated mess, usually of corruption. Literally: To clean the Augean stables.
• Aux quatre coins de — All over; in every part of a place. Literally: At the four corners of.
• Frappé au coin du bon sens — Manifestly sensible; bearing the stamp of sound judgment. Literally: Struck with the die of good sense.
• Collet monté — Prim, stiff and old-fashioned in manner. Literally: Raised collar.
• Dans le collimateur — In someone's sights; singled out for scrutiny. Literally: In the collimator.
• Le complexe d'Œdipe — A child's unconscious attachment to the opposite-sex parent and rivalry with the other. Literally: The Oedipus complex.
• De conserve — Together, in company — not to be confused with de concert. Literally: In convoy.
• On lui donnerait le Bon Dieu sans confession — He looks completely innocent — with the implication that he is not. Literally: You would give him the Lord without confession.
• À cor et à cri — Loudly and insistently; demanding something at the top of one's voice. Literally: With horn and with cry.
• La corde au cou — Entirely at someone's mercy; forced to submit on any terms. Literally: With the rope around the neck.
• Tenir la corde — To be in the best position to win. Literally: To hold the rope.
• Tenir les cordons du poêle — To be a pallbearer at a funeral, as a mark of honor. Literally: To hold the cords of the pall.
• La corne d'abondance — A source of inexhaustible abundance. Literally: The horn of plenty.
• Un choix cornélien — A dilemma in which every option requires sacrificing something one is bound to. Literally: A Cornelian choice.
• À son corps défendant — Reluctantly; against one's own will. Literally: While defending one's body.
• Corvéable à merci — Available to be worked without limit and without recourse. Literally: Liable to forced labor at will.
• Avoir la cote — To be well regarded; to be popular. Literally: To have the quotation.
• Sans coup férir — Without any resistance at all; effortlessly. Literally: Without striking a blow.
• Un coup de fil — A telephone call. Literally: A blow of wire.
• Tomber comme un couperet — To land suddenly and irrevocably, as of bad news. Literally: To fall like a cleaver.
• Faire la cour à quelqu'un — To court someone romantically. Literally: To make the court to someone.
• La cour des grands — The top tier, where the serious players are. Literally: The big children's playground.
• Une fois n'est pas coutume — One exception does not establish a habit. Literally: Once is not custom.
• Pendre la crémaillère — To hold a housewarming. Literally: To hang the pot-hook.
• Riche comme Crésus — Enormously wealthy. Literally: Rich as Croesus.
• La critique est aisée, mais l'art est difficile — Faulting a work costs nothing compared with making one. Literally: Criticism is easy, but art is difficult.
• Tant va la cruche à l'eau qu'à la fin elle se casse — Repeated risk-taking eventually catches up with you. Literally: The pitcher goes to the water so often that it finally breaks.
• Porter la culotte — To be the one who makes the decisions in a household. Literally: To wear the breeches.
• N'en avoir cure — To be entirely indifferent to something. Literally: To have no care of it.
• Virer sa cuti — To undergo a complete change of convictions. Literally: To turn one's skin test.
• Au grand dam de quelqu'un — To someone's considerable detriment or annoyance. Literally: To someone's great harm.
• Trouver son chemin de Damas — To undergo a sudden and total conversion. Literally: To find one's road to Damascus.
• Une épée de Damoclès — A disaster hanging over someone, liable to fall at any moment. Literally: A sword of Damocles.
• Entretenir une danseuse — To maintain a costly indulgence that serves no purpose. Literally: To keep a dancer.
• À l'usage du Dauphin — Expurgated; censored for delicate sensibilities. Literally: For the use of the Dauphin.
• Les dés sont pipés — The outcome is rigged in advance. Literally: The dice are loaded.
• Au débotté — On the spot, with no time to prepare. Literally: At the unbooting.
• Les délices de Capoue — Comfort that saps the will to keep fighting. Literally: The delights of Capua.
• Après moi le déluge — What happens once I am gone is not my problem. Literally: After me, the flood.
• Le démon de midi — The midlife crisis, especially its romantic form. Literally: The noonday demon.
• Mentir comme un arracheur de dents — To lie brazenly and habitually. Literally: To lie like a tooth-puller.
• Dur à la détente — Slow to understand — or, in the other sense, reluctant to part with money. Literally: Stiff on the trigger.
• Qui paye ses dettes s'enrichit — Settling what you owe leaves you better off than owing it. Literally: He who pays his debts grows richer.
• Faire son deuil de quelque chose — To accept that something is lost and give up on it. Literally: To make one's mourning for something.
• Jeter son dévolu sur quelque chose — To settle firmly on something one intends to have. Literally: To cast one's devolution upon something.
• À Dieu ne plaise — God forbid. Literally: May it not please God.
• Dieu reconnaîtra les siens — Act without discriminating and let a higher authority sort out the innocent. Literally: God will recognize his own.
• Mon petit doigt m'a dit — I know something you did not expect me to know. Literally: My little finger told me.
• Dorer la pilule — To make an unpleasant fact easier to accept by dressing it up. Literally: To gild the pill.
• Qui dort dîne — Sleep takes the place of a meal you cannot afford. Literally: He who sleeps, dines.
• Se la couler douce — To take life very easy indeed. Literally: To let it flow gently for oneself.
• Des mesures draconiennes — Punishingly severe rules. Literally: Draconian measures.
• Péter une durite — To lose one's temper completely. Literally: To burst a hose.
• À l'eau de rose — Insipidly sentimental, especially of fiction. Literally: Rosewater.
• L'échapper belle — To have a narrow escape. Literally: To escape it beautifully.
• Faire l'école buissonnière — To play truant. Literally: To do the bush school.
• Ne pas tarir d'éloges — To praise someone endlessly. Literally: Not to run dry of praise.
• Qui trop embrasse mal étreint — Attempting too many things at once means doing none of them properly. Literally: He who embraces too much holds badly.
• Une éminence grise — The unofficial power behind a public figure. Literally: A grey eminence.
• À l'emporte-pièce — Trenchant and uncompromising, of a remark or judgment. Literally: Punch-cut.
• Un enfant de la balle — Someone raised in the trade they now practice. Literally: A child of the ball.
• L'enfer est pavé de bonnes intentions — Meaning well counts for nothing without acting well. Literally: Hell is paved with good intentions.
• Envers et contre tous — In defiance of universal opposition. Literally: Towards and against all.
• À l'envi — Vying with one another; each trying to outdo the rest. Literally: In emulation.
• Jeter l'éponge — To give up and concede. Literally: To throw the sponge.
• Passer l'éponge — To forgive and say no more about it. Literally: To pass the sponge.
• L'esprit de l'escalier — The perfect retort that arrives only after you have left. Literally: Staircase wit.
• Tomber dans l'escarcelle de quelqu'un — To end up in someone's possession, often without their working for it. Literally: To fall into someone's purse.
• À bon escient — Advisedly; with proper judgment about when to do it. Literally: With good knowing.
• Des espèces sonnantes et trébuchantes — Hard cash, as opposed to promises or credit. Literally: Ringing and tipping coin.
• D'estoc et de taille — With everything one has, by every available means. Literally: With point and with edge.
• Ne connaître ni d'Ève ni d'Adam — Not to know someone at all. Literally: To know neither from Eve nor from Adam.
• Fauché comme les blés — Completely broke. Literally: Mown like the wheat.
• S'inscrire en faux — To formally deny something and challenge its truth. Literally: To register as false.
• Cherchez la femme — There is a woman behind this somewhere. Literally: Look for the woman.
• Jeter l'argent par les fenêtres — To spend recklessly and pointlessly. Literally: To throw money out of the windows.
• Croire dur comme fer — To believe something with complete and unshakeable conviction. Literally: To believe hard as iron.
• Le fer de lance — The leading element of an effort; the part that goes in first. Literally: The spearhead.
• Avoir le feu sacré — To be driven by genuine, burning vocation. Literally: To have the sacred fire.
• Être tout feu tout flamme — To be full of ardent enthusiasm. Literally: To be all fire all flame.
• Faire fi de quelque chose — To scorn something; to dismiss it as beneath notice. Literally: To make fie of something.
• Des grosses ficelles — Crude, obvious tricks that fool nobody. Literally: Thick strings.
• Cousu de fil blanc — So obvious that the deception is plainly visible. Literally: Sewn with white thread.
• Mettre le doigt dans l'engrenage — To take a first small step that drags you into something far larger. Literally: To put one's finger in the gears.
• Le dos au feu et le ventre à table — In a state of complete physical contentment. Literally: Back to the fire and belly to the table.
• Marquer à la culotte — To watch someone so closely they cannot move freely. Literally: To mark at the shorts.
• Revoir sa copie — To go back and rework a proposal that has been rejected. Literally: To revise one's paper.
• Ronger son frein — To wait in barely contained impatience. Literally: To gnaw one's bit.
• Jeter sa gourme — To sow one's wild oats. Literally: To throw off one's strangles.
• Tirer à hue et à dia — To pull in opposite directions; to work at cross purposes. Literally: To pull to hue and to dia.
• Une grenouille de bénitier — A woman conspicuously and tiresomely devout. Literally: A holy-water-font frog.
• Faire le pied de grue — To stand around waiting for a long time. Literally: To do the crane's foot.
• Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps — A single encouraging sign does not prove a trend. Literally: One swallow does not make the spring.
• Crier haro sur le baudet — To denounce someone publicly and unanimously. Literally: To cry haro at the donkey.
• Courir plusieurs lièvres à la fois — To pursue too many aims at the same time and catch none. Literally: To chase several hares at once.
• Lever un lièvre — To raise an awkward question nobody wanted opened. Literally: To flush a hare.
• Une tête de linotte — A scatterbrain. Literally: A linnet's head.
• La part du lion — By far the largest portion, taken by the strongest party. Literally: The lion's share.
• Être connu comme le loup blanc — To be known by absolutely everyone. Literally: To be known like the white wolf.
• Se jeter dans la gueule du loup — To walk straight into obvious danger. Literally: To throw oneself into the wolf's mouth.
• Un vieux loup de mer — A seasoned old sailor. Literally: An old sea wolf.
• Avoir des yeux de lynx — To have extremely sharp eyesight, or to notice everything. Literally: To have lynx eyes.
• Des larmes de crocodile — Insincere grief performed for effect. Literally: Crocodile tears.
• Se laisser tondre la laine sur le dos — To let oneself be exploited without resisting. Literally: To let oneself be shorn of the wool on one's back.
• S'entendre comme larrons en foire — To be thick as thieves; to understand one another perfectly. Literally: To get on like thieves at a fair.
• À la fortune du pot — Taking potluck; sharing whatever happens to be cooking. Literally: At the pot's fortune.
• Séparer le bon grain de l'ivraie — To distinguish what is valuable from what is worthless. Literally: To separate the good grain from the darnel.
• Se demander si c'est du lard ou du cochon — To be unable to tell what something is or how it is meant. Literally: To wonder whether it is bacon or pig.
• Une autre paire de manches — A different matter entirely; a far harder proposition. Literally: Another pair of sleeves.
• Faire du lèche-vitrine — To go window shopping. Literally: To do window-licking.
• L'huile de coude — Hard physical effort; elbow grease. Literally: Elbow oil.
• Couper l'herbe sous le pied de quelqu'un — To forestall someone by acting first. Literally: To cut the grass from under someone's foot.
• Ne pas mâcher ses mots — To speak with complete bluntness. Literally: Not to chew one's words.
• Il faut tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche avant de parler — Think carefully before you speak. Literally: One must turn one's tongue seven times in one's mouth before speaking.
• En avoir gros sur le cœur — To be full of unspoken hurt or resentment. Literally: To have it heavy on the heart.
• En son for intérieur — In one's heart of hearts; in private conscience. Literally: In one's inner tribunal.
• À la Saint-Glinglin — Never — on a day that will never come. Literally: On Saint Glinglin's day.
• Une guerre picrocholine — A furious conflict over something trivial. Literally: A Picrocholine war.
• Est-ce que je te demande si ta grand-mère fait du vélo ? — Mind your own business — a retort to an intrusive question. Literally: Am I asking you whether your grandmother rides a bike?.
• Décrocher la lune — To achieve the impossible — or, promised, to offer what cannot be delivered. Literally: To unhook the moon.
• Tomber comme à Gravelotte — To come down thick and fast, of rain or of blows. Literally: To fall as at Gravelotte.
• Veiller au grain — To stay alert for trouble. Literally: To watch for the squall.
• Tomber des hallebardes — To rain extremely hard. Literally: To rain halberds.
• L'été indien — A spell of unseasonably warm weather in autumn. Literally: The Indian summer.
• La partie émergée de l'iceberg — The small visible portion of a much larger problem. Literally: The emerged part of the iceberg.
• Faire flèche de tout bois — To use every available means to achieve an end. Literally: To make an arrow of any wood.
• Blanchir sous le harnais — To grow old in a profession. Literally: To grow white under the harness.
• De fil en aiguille — One thing leading to another. Literally: From thread to needle.
• Un fil d'Ariane — A guiding thread through something impossibly complicated. Literally: An Ariadne's thread.
• En file indienne — In single file, one behind another. Literally: In Indian file.
• La fin justifie les moyens — A worthwhile goal excuses whatever it takes to reach it. Literally: The end justifies the means.
• Conter fleurette — To woo someone with sweet talk. Literally: To tell little flowers.
• Des manœuvres florentines — Devious, elaborately indirect political scheming. Literally: Florentine maneuvers.
• De bonne foi — Sincerely, without intent to deceive. Literally: In good faith.
• S'attirer les foudres de quelqu'un — To bring down someone's wrath on oneself. Literally: To draw someone's thunderbolts.
• Ne pas pouvoir être au four et au moulin — To be unable to be in two places at once. Literally: Not to be able to be at the oven and the mill.
• Épater la galerie — To show off for the benefit of onlookers. Literally: To astound the gallery.
• Sans crier gare — Without any warning at all. Literally: Without crying look-out.
• Une promesse de Gascon — A promise nobody expects to be kept. Literally: A Gascon's promise.
• Vouer aux gémonies — To denounce someone publicly and utterly. Literally: To consign to the Gemoniae.
• Cousin germain — A first cousin. Literally: German cousin.
• Faire partie du Gotha — To belong to the highest society. Literally: To be part of the Gotha.
• Des goûts et des couleurs on ne discute pas — There is no arguing with personal preference. Literally: Of tastes and colors one does not argue.
• Mettre le grappin sur quelque chose — To get one's hooks into something and not let go. Literally: To put the grappling hook on something.
• De gré ou de force — Willingly or unwillingly; one way or another. Literally: By goodwill or by force.
• Le Grenelle de quelque chose — A large multi-party negotiation convened to settle a national issue. Literally: The Grenelle of something.
• L'habit ne fait pas le moine — Appearances do not establish what someone is. Literally: The habit does not make the monk.
• C'est de l'hébreu — It is completely incomprehensible. Literally: It's Hebrew.
• Vieux comme Hérode — Extremely ancient. Literally: Old as Herod.
• Un combat homérique — A struggle of epic scale and duration. Literally: A Homeric combat.
• Un homme averti en vaut deux — Advance warning doubles a person's effectiveness. Literally: A forewarned man is worth two.
• Honi soit qui mal y pense — Let anyone who reads something improper into this be the one disgraced. Literally: Shamed be he who thinks evil of it.
• À huis clos — In closed session, with the public excluded. Literally: Behind closed door.
• Mettre à l'index — To blacklist something or exclude it from acceptable use. Literally: To put on the index.
• Un violon d'Ingres — A serious passion pursued outside one's actual profession. Literally: An Ingres's violin.
• Un coup de Jarnac — An unexpected decisive stroke, delivered within the rules but not quite sportingly. Literally: A Jarnac blow.
• Jeux de mains, jeux de vilains — Horseplay ends badly. Literally: Games of hands, games of churls.
• On ne peut être juge et partie — Nobody may rule on a matter in which they have an interest. Literally: One cannot be judge and party.
• Un jugement de Salomon — A ruling of great wisdom that exposes the truth by testing it. Literally: A judgment of Solomon.
• C'est kif-kif — It makes no difference at all. Literally: It's kif-kif.
• Une fine lame — A highly skilled practitioner. Literally: A fine blade.
• Sur l'air des lampions — Chanted rhythmically on three insistent notes, as a crowd does. Literally: To the tune of the lanterns.
• Perdre son latin — To be completely baffled by something. Literally: To lose one's Latin.
• Se reposer sur ses lauriers — To coast on past achievements instead of continuing to work. Literally: To rest on one's laurels.
• Au pied de la lettre / À la lettre — Literally, in the strictest sense. Literally: At the foot of the letter.
• Entrer en lice — To join a contest or dispute. Literally: To enter the lists.
• Se faire limoger — To be relieved of a post; to be sacked. Literally: To get Limoged.
• Laver son linge sale en famille — Keep internal disputes private. Literally: To wash one's dirty linen within the family.
• Par le petit bout de la lorgnette — From a needlessly narrow point of view. Literally: Through the small end of the opera glass.
• Être une lumière — To be highly intelligent — used almost exclusively in the negative. Literally: To be a light.
• Une lune de miel — The first happy period of a marriage, or of any new arrangement. Literally: A honey moon.
• Bien luné — In a good mood — and mal luné, in a bad one. Literally: Well-mooned.
• Depuis belle lurette — For ages; for a very long time. Literally: Since a fine little hour.
• Depuis des lustres — For a very long time. Literally: For lustres.
• Pleurer comme une Madeleine — To cry copiously and without restraint. Literally: To weep like a Magdalene.
• Une madeleine de Proust — A small sensory trigger that unlocks a flood of memory. Literally: A Proust's madeleine.
• Avoir maille à partir avec quelqu'un — To have a quarrel or a bone to pick with someone. Literally: To have a maille to divide with someone.
• Faire main basse sur quelque chose — To seize something wholesale. Literally: To make low hand on something.
• S'en laver les mains — To disclaim all responsibility for an outcome. Literally: To wash one's hands of it.
• Tout le saint-frusquin — The whole lot; everything one owns. Literally: The whole holy frusquin.
• Des yeux de merlan frit — A soppy, languishing look. Literally: Fried whiting's eyes.
• Payer en monnaie de singe — To pay with worthless promises instead of money. Literally: To pay in monkey money.
• La montagne accouche d'une souris — A vast effort or grand announcement produces something trivial. Literally: The mountain gives birth to a mouse.
• La mouche du coche — Someone who bustles importantly while contributing nothing. Literally: The coach fly.
• On n'attrape pas les mouches avec du vinaigre — Gentleness achieves what harshness cannot. Literally: You don't catch flies with vinegar.
• Prendre la mouche — To take sudden and disproportionate offense. Literally: To take the fly.
• Ours mal léché — A boorish, ill-mannered person. Literally: A badly licked bear.
• Un oiseau rare — An exceptional find; someone with an unlikely combination of qualities. Literally: A rare bird.
• Les moutons de Panurge — People who follow the crowd without thinking. Literally: Panurge's sheep.
• Charger la mule — To pile on far too much; to overcharge someone. Literally: To load the mule.
• Ne pas valoir un pet de lapin — To be entirely worthless. Literally: Not to be worth a rabbit's fart.
• Chassez le naturel, il revient au galop — You cannot permanently suppress your real character. Literally: Drive out nature and it comes back at a gallop.
• C'est la mer à boire — It is an impossible or endless task — most often used in the negative. Literally: It's the sea to drink.
• Faire son miel de quelque chose — To turn something to one's own advantage. Literally: To make one's honey from something.
• La substantifique moelle — The essential substance of something, reached only by real effort. Literally: The substantific marrow.
• On ne fait pas d'omelette sans casser des œufs — Worthwhile results require some damage along the way. Literally: You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.
• Refiler la patate chaude — To hand an awkward problem to someone else. Literally: To pass on the hot potato.
• Dans le pétrin — In serious trouble. Literally: In the kneading trough.
• Avoir du pain sur la planche — To have a great deal of work ahead. Literally: To have bread on the board.
• Manger son pain blanc en premier — To take the easy part at the start and leave the hard part for later. Literally: To eat one's white bread first.
• C'est du nanan — It is delicious — or, by extension, extremely easy. Literally: It's nanan.
• Être médusé — To be struck dumb with astonishment. Literally: To be Medusa'd.
• Motus et bouche cousue — Not a word to anyone. Literally: Motus and mouth sewn shut.
• À fleur de peau — Raw and easily provoked, of emotions; or just at the surface. Literally: At the flower of the skin.
• Avoir bon pied bon œil — To be in excellent shape, especially for one's age. Literally: To have a good foot and a good eye.
• Avoir le pied marin — To keep one's balance on a moving deck; to be unshaken by turbulence. Literally: To have the sea foot.
• Au pied levé — At a moment's notice, with no preparation. Literally: With the foot raised.
• Se noyer dans un verre d'eau — To be defeated by the smallest difficulty. Literally: To drown in a glass of water.
• Merde ! — Good luck — said to a performer before going on stage. Literally: Shit!.
• Voilà pourquoi votre fille est muette — Said of a grand explanation that explains nothing. Literally: That is why your daughter is mute.
• Passez, muscade ! — Hey presto — said when something vanishes suspiciously conveniently. Literally: Pass, nutmeg!.
• Se croire le premier moutardier du pape — To have a wildly inflated sense of one's own importance. Literally: To think oneself the pope's chief mustard-maker.
• Mystère et boule de gomme — Nobody has the faintest idea. Literally: Mystery and gumball.
• Promettre monts et merveilles — To promise far more than could ever be delivered. Literally: To promise mountains and marvels.
• Entre le marteau et l'enclume — Caught between two opposing forces with no way out. Literally: Between the hammer and the anvil.
• Un pavé dans la mare — A revelation or intervention that disturbs a settled situation. Literally: A paving stone in the pond.
• Il y a de l'orage dans l'air — Trouble is brewing. Literally: There's a storm in the air.
• Rouler sur l'or — To be enormously wealthy. Literally: To roll on gold.
• Valoir son pesant d'or — To be extremely valuable. Literally: To be worth one's weight in gold.
• Manu militari — By force; with physical compulsion. Literally: By military hand.
• Faire le matamore — To swagger and bluster without the courage to back it up. Literally: To play the Matamore.
• Vendre la mèche — To give away a secret or a plan. Literally: To sell the fuse.
• Le revers de la médaille — The unwelcome other side of something good. Literally: The reverse of the medal.
• À beau mentir qui vient de loin — Travellers' tales cannot be checked, so they are told without restraint. Literally: He who comes from afar may lie freely.
• Être à la merci de quelqu'un — To be entirely in someone's power. Literally: To be at someone's mercy.
• La huitième merveille du monde — Something extraordinary — usually said with irony. Literally: The eighth wonder of the world.
• Paris vaut bien une messe — A principle is worth abandoning if the prize is large enough. Literally: Paris is well worth a mass.
• Une messe basse — A whispered aside between two people in company. Literally: A low mass.
• Je vous le donne en mille — You will never guess. Literally: I give it to you in a thousand.
• Une cour des miracles — A squalid, lawless place. Literally: A court of miracles.
• Affirmer mordicus — To insist on something absolutely and refuse to be moved. Literally: To affirm by biting.
• Être dans les bras de Morphée — To be fast asleep. Literally: To be in Morpheus's arms.
• Prendre au mot — To hold someone to exactly what they said. Literally: To take at the word.
• Un moulin à paroles — Someone who talks incessantly. Literally: A word mill.
• Sainte Nitouche — A woman who feigns innocence she does not have. Literally: Saint Touch-Not.
• Le nerf de la guerre — Money, as the thing without which nothing can be done. Literally: The sinew of war.
• Convoler en justes noces — To get married. Literally: To fly together in lawful wedding.
• Trancher le nœud gordien — To solve an intractable problem by refusing its terms. Literally: To cut the Gordian knot.
• Chercher des noises — To pick a quarrel deliberately. Literally: To look for noises.
• Être en odeur de sainteté — To be in favor with someone in authority. Literally: To be in the odor of sanctity.
• Œil pour œil, dent pour dent / La loi du talion — Retaliation exactly proportionate to the injury. Literally: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
• Tuer dans l'œuf — To stop something before it can develop. Literally: To kill in the egg.
• À pied d'œuvre — On site and ready to begin. Literally: At the foot of the work.
• S'occuper de ses oignons — To mind one's own business. Literally: To mind one's own onions.
• Pousser des cris d'orfraie — To protest with theatrical outrage. Literally: To shriek like an osprey.
• Un ouvrier de la onzième heure — A latecomer who receives the same reward as those who did the work. Literally: A worker of the eleventh hour.
• La paille et la poutre — Noticing a small fault in others while ignoring a large one in oneself. Literally: The straw and the beam.
• Un homme de paille — A front man acting for someone who stays hidden. Literally: A man of straw.
• Envoyer paître — To tell someone to get lost. Literally: To send someone off to graze.
• La boîte de Pandore — Something that releases a host of troubles once opened. Literally: Pandora's box.
• Le dessus du panier — The pick of the crop; the best of a group. Literally: The top of the basket.
• Un panier percé — Someone incapable of holding on to money. Literally: A pierced basket.
• Le parcours du combattant — A gruelling series of obstacles. Literally: The combatant's course.
• La flèche du Parthe — A wounding remark delivered while leaving. Literally: The Parthian shot.
• Graisser la patte — To bribe someone. Literally: To grease the paw.
• Le haut du pavé — The most privileged position in society. Literally: The top of the paving.
• Mettre pavillon bas — To admit defeat. Literally: To lower the flag.
• Dire pis que pendre de quelqu'un — To speak extremely ill of someone. Literally: To say worse than hanging about someone.
• Remettre les pendules à l'heure — To set the record straight and restore order. Literally: To set the clocks back to the right time.
• Ce n'est pas le Pérou — It is not a fortune; it is nothing to get excited about. Literally: It's not Peru.
• Un pétard mouillé — A revelation that was supposed to explode and did not. Literally: A damp firecracker.
• Peu ou prou — More or less; to some degree. Literally: Little or much.
• Y a pas photo — It's not even close; there is no question about it. Literally: There's no photo.
• Ne tirez pas sur le pianiste — Do not blame the person who is only doing their best with what they were given. Literally: Don't shoot the pianist.
• Qui va piano va sano — Slow and steady is the surer way. Literally: Who goes gently goes safely.
• Prendre le train onze — To go on foot. Literally: To take the number eleven train.
• Vieux comme Mathusalem — Extremely old. Literally: Old as Methuselah.
• Comme un poisson dans l'eau — Completely at ease in one's element. Literally: Like a fish in water.
• Tuer la poule aux œufs d'or — To destroy a source of steady profit out of greed for all of it at once. Literally: To kill the hen that lays the golden eggs.
• Écrire un poulet à quelqu'un — To send a love letter. Literally: To write someone a chicken.
• À la queue leu leu — In single file, one behind another. Literally: In wolf-wolf tail.
• Avoir la queue entre les jambes — To slink off humiliated. Literally: To have one's tail between one's legs.
• Manger à tous les râteliers — To take advantage from all sides at once, with no loyalty to any. Literally: To eat from every hay rack.
• Une bête de somme — Someone worked relentlessly at heavy, thankless labor. Literally: A beast of burden.
• Se faire prendre pour un pigeon — To be duped as an easy mark. Literally: To be taken for a pigeon.
• Avoir les portugaises ensablées — To be hard of hearing. Literally: To have one's Portuguese oysters silted up.
• Laid comme un pou — Extremely ugly. Literally: Ugly as a louse.
• Le plancher des vaches — Dry land, as seen from the sea. Literally: The cows' floor.
• Secouer comme un prunier — To shake someone violently. Literally: To shake like a plum tree.
• Le marchand de sable est passé — The children are getting sleepy. Literally: The sandman has been by.
• Un pique-nique — A meal eaten outdoors to which everyone contributes. Literally: A pick-nothing.
• Cracher dans la soupe — To disparage the thing that sustains you. Literally: To spit in the soup.
• Trempé comme une soupe — Drenched to the skin. Literally: Soaked like a soup.
• Payer rubis sur l'ongle — To pay in full, immediately and to the last penny. Literally: To pay ruby on the nail.
• Faire avancer le schmilblick — To make actual progress on something. Literally: To move the schmilblick forward.
• Avaler des poires d'angoisse — To endure something bitterly painful. Literally: To swallow pears of anguish.
• En cinq sec — In no time at all. Literally: In five dry.
• Jeter de la poudre aux yeux — To create a dazzling false impression. Literally: To throw powder in the eyes.
• Tenir à quelque chose comme à la prunelle de ses yeux — To guard something as one's most precious possession. Literally: To hold to something like the pupil of one's eye.
• Allumer ses quinquets — To open one's eyes and pay attention. Literally: To light one's quinquets.
• Couper le sifflet à quelqu'un — To silence someone abruptly, usually with an unanswerable point. Literally: To cut someone's whistle.
• Être dans ses petits souliers — To be acutely ill at ease. Literally: To be in one's little shoes.
• Mordre la poussière — To be defeated; to fall. Literally: To bite the dust.
• Avoir plus d'un tour dans son sac — To have resources in reserve. Literally: To have more than one trick in one's bag.
• Vider son sac — To say everything one has been holding back. Literally: To empty one's bag.
• De la poudre de perlimpinpin — A worthless remedy sold with great confidence. Literally: Perlimpinpin powder.
• Un lit de Procuste — A standard imposed regardless of what it does to the thing being measured. Literally: A bed of Procrustes.
• Le rocher de Sisyphe — A labor that must be repeated forever and never completes. Literally: The rock of Sisyphus.
• Le supplice de Tantale — Having what one wants permanently in sight and permanently out of reach. Literally: The torment of Tantalus.
• Une solution de continuité — A break or gap — not, despite appearances, a solution to anything. Literally: A solution of continuity.
• Demain, on rase gratis — A promise perpetually postponed. Literally: Tomorrow, free shaves.
• À vos souhaits — Bless you — said when someone sneezes. Literally: To your wishes.
• Pierre qui roule n'amasse pas mousse — Constant movement prevents anything from accumulating. Literally: A rolling stone gathers no moss.
• Les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières — Small contributions accumulate into something substantial. Literally: Little streams make great rivers.
• Un soleil de plomb — A crushing, oppressive heat. Literally: A sun of lead.
• Une planche de salut — A last resort; the only remaining hope. Literally: A plank of salvation.
• Sentir le sapin — To be close to death. Literally: To smell of fir.
• Mettre à pied — To suspend someone from their duties. Literally: To put on foot.
• Jeter la première pierre — To be the first to condemn someone. Literally: To cast the first stone.
• Avoir pignon sur rue — To be soundly established, with a visible and respectable position. Literally: To have a gable on the street.
• Jouer à pile ou face — To decide by tossing a coin. Literally: To play stack or face.
• Un pince-sans-rire — Someone who jokes with a completely straight face. Literally: A pinch-without-laughing.
• N'être pas à prendre avec des pincettes — To be in such a foul mood as to be unapproachable. Literally: Not to be picked up with tongs.
• Damer le pion à quelqu'un — To outmaneuver someone decisively. Literally: To crown one's pawn over someone.
• Pas piqué des vers — Remarkable; really something. Literally: Not worm-eaten.
• Savonner la planche à quelqu'un — To sabotage someone quietly so they fail. Literally: To soap someone's plank.
• Glisser une peau de banane — To engineer someone's public downfall. Literally: To slip someone a banana skin.
• Battre son plein — To be in full swing. Literally: To be at its full.
• Péter les plombs — To lose one's temper completely. Literally: To blow the fuses.
• Faire le point — To take stock of where things stand. Literally: To fix the point.
• Pomme de discorde — The particular thing two parties are fighting over. Literally: Apple of discord.
• En grande pompe — With elaborate ceremony. Literally: In great pomp.
• Comme le Pont-Neuf — In excellent shape despite considerable age. Literally: Like the Pont Neuf.
• Enfoncer une porte ouverte — To make a great effort to establish something nobody disputes. Literally: To break down an open door.
• La portion congrue — A bare minimum, grudgingly given. Literally: The congruous portion.
• Saoul comme un Polonais — Extremely drunk. Literally: Drunk as a Pole.
• Défendre son pré carré — To protect one's own territory or area of authority. Literally: To defend one's square field.
• Lâcher la proie pour l'ombre — To give up something real in pursuit of something illusory. Literally: To drop the prey for the shadow.
• Une victoire à la Pyrrhus — A win whose cost makes it indistinguishable from defeat. Literally: A Pyrrhic victory.
• En quarantaine — In quarantine; isolated from contact. Literally: In fortyness.
• Tomber en quenouille — To decline into neglect; to fall apart through mismanagement. Literally: To fall to the distaff.
• Sans queue ni tête — Making no sense at all. Literally: Without tail or head.
• Être sur le qui-vive — To be tensely alert. Literally: To be on the who-lives.
• En rade — Stranded; left behind. Literally: In the roadstead.
• Faire du ramdam — To make a great deal of noise. Literally: To make ramadan.
• Un remède de bonne femme — A folk cure of doubtful value. Literally: A good woman's remedy.
• Tirer sa révérence — To take one's leave, with a show of formality. Literally: To draw one's bow.
• À tour de rôle — Each in turn. Literally: By turn of the roll.
• Un rond-de-cuir — A petty bureaucrat. Literally: A leather ring.
• Au bout du rouleau — Completely exhausted; at the end of one's resources. Literally: At the end of the roll.
• Hommes de sac et de corde — Thorough scoundrels. Literally: Men of sack and rope.
• L'affaire est dans le sac — It is as good as settled. Literally: The matter is in the bag.
• Mettre à sac — To plunder a place completely. Literally: To put to the sack.
• À bon entendeur, salut — A word to the wise — take the hint. Literally: To the good listener, greetings.
• Bon sang ! — Good grief — an exclamation of exasperation. Literally: Good blood!.
• Bon sang ne saurait mentir — Breeding shows in the end. Literally: Good blood cannot lie.
• Séance tenante — Then and there, without adjournment. Literally: The session holding.
• Un coup de semonce — A deliberate warning, delivered before real consequences. Literally: A warning shot.
• Un train de sénateur — A slow, dignified gait. Literally: A senator's pace.
• Nourri dans le sérail — Brought up inside an institution and knowing all its workings. Literally: Raised in the seraglio.
• Ce n'est pas une sinécure — It is not an easy job. Literally: It's no sinecure.
• Une chasse aux sorcières — A campaign of persecution driven by suspicion rather than evidence. Literally: A witch hunt.
• Pas besoin de sortir de Saint-Cyr — It doesn't take a genius to work that out. Literally: No need to have graduated from Saint-Cyr.
• Faire table rase — To sweep everything away and start from nothing. Literally: To make a scraped table.
• Prendre le taureau par les cornes — To tackle a difficulty head-on instead of avoiding it. Literally: To take the bull by the horns.
• Les vaches maigres — A period of hardship and scarcity — the opposite of les vaches grasses. Literally: The lean cows.
• Les vaches grasses — A period of plenty. Literally: The fat cows.
• Aller comme un tablier à une vache — To suit someone appallingly badly. Literally: To suit like an apron suits a cow.
• Adorer le veau d'or — To make money one's god. Literally: To worship the golden calf.
• Une tunique de Nessus — A gift that destroys the person who accepts it. Literally: A tunic of Nessus.
• Une tarte à la crème — A tired cliché trotted out as though it were an argument. Literally: A cream tart.
• Décrocher la timbale — To carry off the prize. Literally: To unhook the drinking cup.
• Trier sur le volet — To hand-pick with great care. Literally: To sort on the board.
• À tue-tête — At the top of one's voice. Literally: At kill-head.
• Dire ses quatre vérités à quelqu'un — To tell someone exactly what is wrong with them. Literally: To tell someone their four truths.
• Avoir la main verte — To have a gift for growing plants. Literally: To have a green hand.
• Entrer dans le vif du sujet — To get to the heart of the matter. Literally: To enter the living part of the subject.
• Une vérité de La Palice / Une lapalissade — A statement so obvious it is comic — a truism. Literally: A La Palice truth.
• Prendre des vessies pour des lanternes — To be grossly deceived about something. Literally: To take bladders for lanterns.
• Être piqué de la tarentule — To be seized by frantic, uncontrollable agitation. Literally: To be bitten by the tarantula.
• Tonnerre de Brest ! — An exclamation of astonishment or annoyance. Literally: Thunder of Brest!.
• En voiture, Simone ! — Right then, off we go. Literally: Into the car, Simone!.
• Une tempête dans un verre d'eau — A great commotion over something trivial. Literally: A storm in a glass of water.
• Contre vents et marées — In the face of every obstacle. Literally: Against winds and tides.
• Autant en emporte le vent — Said of promises and words that will come to nothing. Literally: The wind carries it all away.
• Aller à vau-l'eau — To fall into ruin; to drift towards collapse. Literally: To go down the water.
• Se mettre au vert — To retreat to the countryside to rest or lie low. Literally: To put oneself to the green.
• Une volée de bois vert — A severe and public dressing-down. Literally: A volley of green wood.
• Le ventre mou — The weakest and most exposed part of something. Literally: The soft belly.
• Rendre son tablier — To resign, usually in protest. Literally: To hand back one's apron.
• Sans tambour ni trompette — Discreetly, without any announcement. Literally: Without drum or trumpet.
• Prendre la tangente — To slip away, or to dodge a question. Literally: To take the tangent.
• Partir à Tataouine — To be packed off somewhere remote and unpleasant. Literally: To be sent to Tataouine.
• Un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l'auras — A certain small gain beats a larger promised one. Literally: One here-you-are is worth more than two you-shall-haves.
• Mieux vaut tenir que courir — Better to keep what you have than chase what you might get. Literally: Better to hold than to run.
• Un travail de Titan — An undertaking of enormous scale. Literally: A Titan's labor.
• À tombeau ouvert — At reckless, life-threatening speed. Literally: With the tomb open.
• Être mis sur la touche — To be sidelined and left out of things. Literally: To be put on the touchline.
• Botter en touche — To dodge a question by changing the subject. Literally: To kick into touch.
• Une tour d'ivoire — A position of deliberate detachment from ordinary life. Literally: An ivory tower.
• La tournée des grands-ducs — A lavish night out taking in every fashionable establishment. Literally: The grand dukes' tour.
• Un coup de Trafalgar — A sudden catastrophic reversal, often felt to be underhand. Literally: A Trafalgar blow.
• Doré sur tranche — Extremely wealthy; luxuriously appointed. Literally: Gilded on the edge.
• Le bout du tunnel — The first sign that a long difficulty is ending. Literally: The end of the tunnel.
• Brûler ses vaisseaux — To destroy any possibility of retreat. Literally: To burn one's ships.
• Vérité en deçà des Pyrénées, erreur au-delà — What counts as true depends on which side of a border you stand. Literally: Truth on this side of the Pyrenees, error beyond.
• Un vieux de la vieille — A veteran of long standing. Literally: An old one of the old.
• En quatrième vitesse — At top speed; as fast as possible. Literally: In fourth gear.
• Au temps pour moi — My mistake. Literally: As you were, for me.
• Aller au charbon — To head off to work; to steel oneself for something disagreeable. Literally: To go to the coal.
• Passer l'arme à gauche — To die. Literally: To pass the weapon to the left.
• La réponse du berger à la bergère — The retort that ends an argument for good; also, giving someone exactly what they gave you. Literally: The shepherd's reply to the shepherdess.
• Couler un bronze — To defecate. Literally: To cast a bronze.
• Coûter un bras — To be outrageously expensive. Literally: To cost an arm.
• Se cailler les miches — To be freezing cold. Literally: To curdle one's buttocks.
• Chercher une aiguille dans une botte de foin — To search for something you have almost no chance of finding, because the thing is tiny and the place holding it is vast. Literally: To look for a needle in a bundle of hay.
• Avoir le bourdon — To feel low; to be in a melancholy mood. Literally: To have the bumblebee.
• Bourré comme un coing — Completely drunk. Literally: Stuffed like a quince.
• Un chaud lapin — A man with a voracious appetite for sex. Literally: A hot rabbit.
• Faire devenir chèvre — To drive someone up the wall. Literally: To make someone turn into a goat.
• Passer à la casserole — To be killed; to be put through something thoroughly unpleasant; or, said of a woman, to be pressured into submitting to sex. Literally: To go into the saucepan.
• Traîner une casserole — To be trailed by a past scandal that others keep bringing up. Literally: To drag a saucepan behind you.
• Avaler des couleuvres — To put up with insults or humiliations without being able to protest; also, to swallow any claim you are told. Literally: To swallow grass snakes.
• Comme un coq en pâte — Thoroughly pampered; living in complete comfort. Literally: Like a rooster in pastry.
• S'en battre l'œil / S'en tamponner le coquillard — To not care in the slightest. Literally: To beat one's eye over it.
• C'est dans mes cordes — It is within my competence; I can handle that. Literally: It is in my strings.
• Filer un mauvais coton — To be going downhill — in health, or in one's situation generally. Literally: To spin a bad cotton.
• Tirer son coup — For a man, to have an orgasm. Vulgar. Literally: To fire one's shot.
• Avoir le cul bordé de nouilles — To be outrageously lucky. Literally: To have one's backside lined with noodles.
• Crever la dalle — To be extremely hungry. Literally: To burst the gullet.
• En deux coups de cuillère à pot — In no time at all, and with no apparent difficulty. Literally: In two strokes of the pot ladle.
• Avoir le feu au cul — To be in a tearing hurry; or, to be highly sexually eager. Literally: To have fire in one's backside.
• Mi-figue, mi-raisin — Torn between pleasure and displeasure; half in earnest, half in jest. Literally: Half fig, half grape.
• Prendre la poudre d'escampette — To clear off in a hurry. Literally: To take the escampette powder.
• Que dalle — Nothing at all. Literally: Only slab.
• Aller se faire voir chez les Grecs — Get lost — said of or to someone you want rid of. Literally: To go and get yourself seen among the Greeks.
• Avoir la frite / Avoir la patate — To be on great form; to be full of energy. Literally: To have the fry / to have the potato.
• Il y a de l'eau dans le gaz — Trouble is brewing; a quarrel is on the way. Literally: There is water in the gas.
• Faire du gringue — To chat someone up, insistently. Literally: To make some gringue.
• Être gonflé / Ne pas manquer d'air — To be recklessly bold — or, said with irritation, to have a great deal of nerve. Literally: To be inflated / not to be short of air.
• Pas folle, la guêpe ! — Said of someone shrewd enough not to be taken in. Literally: Not mad, the wasp!.
• En rester comme deux ronds de flan — To be utterly dumbfounded. Literally: To be left like two rounds of custard.
• Tirer au flanc / Tirer au cul — To dodge work; to shirk. Literally: To pull toward the flank / toward the backside.
• Courir sur le haricot / Taper sur le système — To get on someone's nerves. Literally: To run on the bean / to bang on the system.
• Habiller quelqu'un pour l'hiver — To run someone down, usually behind their back. Literally: To dress someone for winter.
• Mettre le holà — To put a stop to something. Literally: To put the holà.
• Ça me fait une belle jambe — That is no use to me whatsoever. Literally: That makes me a fine leg.
• Rire jaune — To force a laugh; to laugh while plainly not amused. Literally: To laugh yellow.
• En jeter / Ça en jette ! — To look genuinely impressive. Literally: To throw some / it throws some!.
• Y a pas de lézard ! — No problem; it's all fine. Literally: There's no lizard!.
• Con comme la lune — Exceptionally stupid. Literally: As stupid as the moon.
• Faire un malheur — To cause a scene with serious consequences — or, oppositely, to be a runaway success. Literally: To make a misfortune.
• Se retrouver une main devant, une main derrière — To be left with absolutely nothing. Literally: To be left one hand in front, one hand behind.
• Se faire la malle — To clear off; to make a run for it. Literally: To make oneself the trunk.
• Avoir vu le loup — Said of a young woman, to have had sex; also, in some regions, to be hoarse. Literally: To have seen the wolf.
• Ne pas y aller de main morte — To hit hard; to act without the slightest restraint. Literally: Not to go at it with a dead hand.
• Bourrer le mou — To feed someone lies; to try to con them. Literally: To stuff the soft part.
• Enculer les mouches — To split hairs; to fuss over trivial detail. Vulgar. Literally: To sodomize flies.
• Être dans la mouise / Être dans la panade / Être dans la purée — To be broke and in real trouble. Literally: To be in the gruel.
• Faire le mariole — To show off; to play the smart aleck. Literally: To play the mariole.
• Fumer la moquette — To be talking obvious nonsense; to be off one's head. Literally: To smoke the carpet.
• Laisser pisser le mérinos — To let things take their course; to wait it out. Literally: To let the merino piss.
• Rouler des mécaniques — To swagger; to throw one's weight around. Literally: To roll one's mechanics.
• Sauver les meubles — To salvage what matters from a disaster. Literally: To save the furniture.
• Se casser la margoulette — To come a cropper; to take a bad fall. Literally: To break one's mug.
• Se faire du mouron — To worry oneself. Literally: To give oneself some hair.
• En rang d'oignons — Lined up in a single neat row. Literally: In a row of onions.
• Se mettre le doigt dans l'œil — To be completely and obviously wrong. Literally: To put one's finger in one's eye.
• Faut pas pousser mémé dans les orties — Don't push it; don't take it too far. Literally: You mustn't push granny into the nettles.
• À l'œil — Free of charge. Literally: At the eye.
• L'avoir dans l'os — To come off badly; to be had. Literally: To have it in the bone.
• Être à l'ouest — To be out of it; not with it at all. Literally: To be in the west.
• Avoir des oursins dans la poche / Avoir des oursins dans le porte-monnaie — To be tight-fisted. Literally: To have sea urchins in one's pocket.
• Sur la paille — Reduced to real poverty. Literally: On the straw.
• Avoir un nom à coucher dehors — To have a name nobody can pronounce or remember. Literally: To have a name to sleep outdoors with.
• Coûter la peau des fesses / Coûter les yeux de la tête — To cost an absolute fortune. Literally: To cost the skin off one's backside / the eyes out of one's head.
• Être dans les petits papiers de quelqu'un — To be in someone's good books; to enjoy their favor. Literally: To be in someone's little papers.
• Faire un pataquès — To make a clumsy verbal slip, or a blunder generally; also, to make an enormous fuss over nothing. Literally: To make a pataquès.
• Patin couffin — And so on and so forth; et cetera. Literally: Slipper, basket.
• Rouler un patin / Rouler une galoche — To kiss deeply, with tongue. Literally: To roll a skate.
• Enfiler des perles — To waste time on pointless busywork. Literally: To thread pearls.
• Avoir un pet de travers — To be slightly unwell, or simply in a foul mood. Literally: To have a fart sideways.
• Pédé comme un phoque — Said of a man: unmistakably gay. *Pédé* is a homophobic slur and the phrase is offensive. Literally: Queer as a seal.
• Tailler une pipe — To perform fellatio. Vulgar. Literally: To cut a pipe.
• Pisser dans sa culotte / Pisser dans son froc — To laugh helplessly — or, oppositely, to be terrified. Literally: To piss in one's trousers.
• Être à côté de la plaque — To be wide of the mark; to answer something other than the question asked. Literally: To be next to the plate.
• Ça va durer trois plombes — It's going to take hours. Literally: It's going to last three leads.
• Se chatouiller le poireau / S'astiquer la colonne — To masturbate, said of a man. Vulgar. Literally: To tickle the leek / to polish the column.
• Avoir la poisse — To have persistent, clinging bad luck. Literally: To have the pitch.
• Avoir un coup de pompe — To be hit by a sudden wave of exhaustion. Literally: To take a stroke of the pump.
• Ça se bouscule au portillon — There's a crush; also, crudely, of an urgent need to be sick. Literally: There's a scramble at the little gate.
• Tirer le portrait — To take someone's photograph. Literally: To draw the portrait.
• Manger sur le pouce — To eat in a hurry, standing up. Literally: To eat on the thumb.
• Cucul la praline — Twee; soppy; embarrassingly naive. Literally: Silly-bum the praline.
• Pour des prunes — For nothing; in vain. Literally: For plums.
• S'en moquer comme de l'an quarante — To not care in the slightest. Literally: To care about it as much as about the year forty.

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