Bon an, mal an
Meaning: On average, taking the good years with the bad; year in, year out.
Language: French
Literally: Good year, bad year
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Farming arithmetic. A harvest cannot be judged by one season, so the good and lean years are averaged together — the same reasoning as the parallel bon gré, mal gré, willing or not.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Le libre arbitre — Free will — the capacity to choose independently of compulsion.
- L'argent n'a pas d'odeur — Money is money regardless of how disreputably it was earned.
- Une Arlésienne — A person or thing endlessly talked about but who never actually appears.
- Signer son arrêt de mort — To take an action that guarantees your own downfall.
- Un homme de l'art — A qualified professional, especially a physician.
- C'est du grand art — That is masterfully done.
More French idioms
- L'enfance de l'art — Utterly elementary; child's play.
- À l'article de la mort — At the very point of dying.
- De bon augure — A promising sign; its opposite, de mauvais augure, means ominous.
- Mesurer à l'aune de — To judge something by a particular standard.
- L'avocat du diable — Someone who argues a position they do not hold in order to test it.
- Dans tous les azimuts — In every direction at once; scattered and unfocused.
From our untranslatable words
- L'esprit de l'escalier — Thinking of the perfect comeback only after the moment has passed — on your way down the…
- Terroir — The unique character that a place — its soil, climate and tradition — gives to a wine or…
- Râler — To complain and grumble with a certain national flair — a beloved French pastime.
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