IdiomDaily Life
French
FrenchAvoir pignon sur rue
Meaning: To be soundly established, with a visible and respectable position.
Literally: To have a gable on the street
Example: “Ce cabinet d'avocats a pignon sur rue depuis un siècle.” — This law firm has been a well-established name for a century.
Origin: The pignon is the gable end of a house. Owning a building whose gable faced the street meant owning real property in the town rather than renting a room, which was the medieval measure of standing.
More French idioms
- Glisser une peau de banane To engineer someone's public downfall.
- Battre son plein To be in full swing.
- Péter les plombs To lose one's temper completely.
- Faire le point To take stock of where things stand.
- Pomme de discorde The particular thing two parties are fighting over.
- En grande pompe With elaborate ceremony.
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