FrenchAvoir une dent contre quelqu'un
Meaning: Holding a grudge or resentment toward someone.
Literally: To have a tooth against someone
Example: “Il a une dent contre moi depuis que j'ai eu la promotion à sa place.” — He's had it in for me ever since I got the promotion instead of him.
English equivalent: To have it in for someone
Origin: A tooth is what one bites with, and keeping one ready against someone is holding a grudge that may yet bite. Madame de Sévigné used the phrase in the 17th century, and the Académie française listed it in 1762, alongside a stronger form now gone: avoir une dent de lait contre quelqu'un (to have a milk tooth against someone), for an old grudge, one, as Littré puts it, "sucked in with the milk."
Equivalents in other languages
English: To have a chip on your shoulder
More French idioms
- Tirer les vers du nez Getting someone to reveal information they want to keep secret.
- Faire le mort To lie low; to give no sign of life and avoid drawing attention.
- Ravaler ses paroles To take back what one has said; also, to hold back words one was about to say.
- Mettre l'eau à la bouche Making someone crave or desire something through temptation.
- Tremper son biscuit To have sex (vulgar slang).
- Faire un bide Experiencing complete failure or lack of success.
Explore another collection: Compliments & Insults
Compliments and insults from around the world, from the sweet to the savage.
- Avoir un poil dans la main To be incurably lazy.
- Tête de linotte A scatterbrain who can't hold a thought.
- Courir sur le haricot To get badly on someone's nerves.
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