IdiomBody & Senses
English
Englishbecome second nature
Meaning: To become so familiar that one does it without thinking.
Example: “After a year on the farm, milking had become second nature.”
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 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.
- smell a rat To sense that something dishonest is going on.
- a hard nut to crack A difficult problem, or a person who is hard to deal with.
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Words that look familiar in another language but mean something else entirely.
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