Cherchez la femme
Meaning: There is a woman behind this somewhere.
Language: French
Literally: Look for the woman
Example: “Le banquier a tout quitté du jour au lendemain ? Cherchez la femme.” — The banker gave up everything overnight? Cherchez la femme.
English equivalent: Cherchez la femme
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From Dumas père's Les Mohicans de Paris, where a detective repeats it as his method for any inexplicable case. It survives as a knowing remark whose knowingness has aged badly.
Equivalents in other languages
- English: cherchez la femme
More idioms — Daily Life
- Jeter l'argent par les fenêtres — To spend recklessly and pointlessly.
- Croire dur comme fer — To believe something with complete and unshakeable conviction.
- Le fer de lance — The leading element of an effort; the part that goes in first.
- Avoir le feu sacré — To be driven by genuine, burning vocation.
- Être tout feu tout flamme — To be full of ardent enthusiasm.
- Faire fi de quelque chose — To scorn something; to dismiss it as beneath notice.
More French idioms
- Des grosses ficelles — Crude, obvious tricks that fool nobody.
- Cousu de fil blanc — So obvious that the deception is plainly visible.
- Mettre le doigt dans l'engrenage — To take a first small step that drags you into something far larger.
- Le dos au feu et le ventre à table — In a state of complete physical contentment.
- Marquer à la culotte — To watch someone so closely they cannot move freely.
- Revoir sa copie — To go back and rework a proposal that has been rejected.
From our compliments & insults
- Courir sur le haricot — To get badly on someone's nerves.
- 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.