أكل العيش والملح مع شخص (Akal al-'aysh wal-milh ma'a shakhs)
Meaning: Shared intimate bond or deep friendship forged through shared hardship and simple living together.
Language: Arabic
Literally: Ate bread and salt with someone.
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: Arab hospitality tradition where breaking bread and salt together created sacred bonds of loyalty; salt symbolized covenant in Semitic cultures.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- take the biscuit — to be the most outrageous or remarkable thing; to win or excel.
- give someone the cold shoulder — to deliberately treat someone with indifference or ignore them.
- spill the tea — to reveal gossip or scandalous information.
- not worth your salt — incompetent; not deserving of wages or respect.
- bring home the bacon — to provide income; to succeed in earning money.
- a storm in a teacup — excessive fuss over something trivial; tempest in a teapot.
More Arabic idioms
- حط في بطنك بطيخة صيفي (ḥuṭṭ fī baṭnak baṭīkha ṣayfī) — Relax completely; do not worry about a thing.
- يعمل من الحبة قبة (Ya'mal min al-ḥabba qubba) — To blow something tiny completely out of proportion.
- اللي على راسه بطحة بيحسس عليها (illi ʿala rasu baṭḥa byiḥassis ʿalayha) — The guilty person gives himself away.
- الحبل على الكذب قصير (al-ḥabl ʿalā al-kadhib qaṣīr) — Lies never last; they are soon exposed.
- يد واحدة لا تصفق (yad wāḥida lā tuṣaffiqu) — Nothing is achieved without cooperation.
- الجمل ما يشوف عوجة رقبته (Al-jamal mā yshūf 'awjat raqabatuh) — People are blind to their own faults.
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