C'est kif-kif
Meaning: It makes no difference at all.
Language: French
Literally: It's kif-kif
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From Arabic kif kif, like for like, brought into French by soldiers in North Africa in the 19th century. The reduplication is the Arabic construction, not a French intensifier.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Une fine lame — A highly skilled practitioner.
- Sur l'air des lampions — Chanted rhythmically on three insistent notes, as a crowd does.
- Perdre son latin — To be completely baffled by something.
- Se reposer sur ses lauriers — To coast on past achievements instead of continuing to work.
- Au pied de la lettre / À la lettre — Literally, in the strictest sense.
- Entrer en lice — To join a contest or dispute.
More French idioms
- Se faire limoger — To be relieved of a post; to be sacked.
- Laver son linge sale en famille — Keep internal disputes private.
- Par le petit bout de la lorgnette — From a needlessly narrow point of view.
- Être une lumière — To be highly intelligent — used almost exclusively in the negative.
- Une lune de miel — The first happy period of a marriage, or of any new arrangement.
- Bien luné — In a good mood — and mal luné, in a bad one.
From our compliments & insults
- Tu as du chien — You have a certain irresistible magnetism — a je-ne-sais-quoi that draws people in.
- Tu as la tête sur les épaules — You're grounded, sensible, and dependable — not easily swept off course.
- Tu as le vent en poupe — Everything is going your way — you're riding a wave of momentum and success.
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