
a piece of cake
Meaning: Something that is easy to do.
Example: “The driving test was a piece of cake.”
Other ways to say this
Spanish: Ser pan comido Literally: To be eaten bread
Korean: 식은 죽 먹기 (Sigeun juk meokgi) Literally: Eating cold porridge
French: Les doigts dans le nez Literally: Fingers in the nose
Polish: Bułka z masłem Literally: A roll with butter
Japanese: 朝飯前 (Asameshi mae) Literally: Before breakfast
Korean: 누워서 떡 먹기 (nuwoseo tteok meokgi) Literally: Eating rice cake lying down
Spanish: en dos patadas Literally: In two kicks
Polish: prosty jak drut Literally: Straight as wire
French: C'est du nanan Literally: It's nananEnglish: with one hand tied behind one's back
Origin: Most often traced to the cakewalk, a competitive strutting dance performed at 19th-century gatherings of enslaved Black Americans, developed partly as a sly mockery of the formal ballroom manners of plantation owners; the best dancing couple won a cake as the prize, which is also where "that takes the cake" comes from. Whether "a piece of cake" for something easy descends directly from that contest is debated, since the earliest print use of the idiom itself is much later — Ogden Nash's 1936 poem Primrose Path, with the line "Her picture's in the papers now, and life's a piece of cake." A rival, less well-supported theory places the phrase in 1930s Royal Air Force slang, describing a mission so easy it was no more trouble than eating cake.
More English idioms
- upset the apple cart To disturb the status quo; to shake up the existing situation.
- albatross around one's neck Something or someone that is a burden and difficult to get rid of.
- armed to the teeth Well-equipped with weapons.
- go back to square one Return to the beginning.
- go back to the drawing board Return to the planning stage of a project.
- have one's back to the wall To be in a difficult or desperate situation.
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