become second nature
Meaning: To become so familiar that one does it without thinking.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “After a year on the farm, milking had become second nature.”
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: The idea of a "second nature" acquired by habit goes back to Cicero, who wrote that habit is a second nature. The English phrase is found from the 16th century.
Equivalents in other languages
- German: jemandem in Fleisch und Blut übergehen — literally: to pass into someone in flesh and blood
More idioms — Body & Senses
- start off on the wrong foot — To begin something badly.
- take one's breath away — To astonish someone with beauty or surprise.
- go away empty-handed — To get nothing at all.
- work one's fingers to the bone — To work extremely hard.
- watch one's back — To stay alert to hidden threats.
- set someone's heart racing — To excite or alarm someone.
More English idioms
- be a known quantity — To be someone whose character or ability is already understood.
- take the rap — To accept blame or punishment, often for someone else.
- you can't win them all — Said to console someone after a small failure.
- right on cue — At exactly the right moment.
- you snooze, you lose — If you are slow to act, someone else will take the chance.
- smell a rat — To sense that something dishonest is going on.