FrenchCompter sur les doigts d’une main
Meaning: To be so few in number that they can be counted on five fingers or fewer.
Literally: To count on the fingers of one hand
Example: “Les jours de soleil cet été, on peut les compter sur les doigts d'une main.” — You can count the sunny days this summer on the fingers of one hand.
English equivalent: To count on the fingers of one hand
Equivalents in other languages
Polish: policzyć na palcach jednej ręki Literally: To count on the fingers of one hand
English: count on the fingers of one hand
Origin: The hand is the smallest counting tool there is: if a group can be numbered on the fingers of one hand, there are five or fewer. The phrase is almost always used to stress scarcity, often of something that ought to be common. No particular story lies behind it, and English uses the same count.
More French idioms
- Faire fureur To provoke great enthusiasm or widespread popularity.
- Pousser les feux To intensify effort or energy; to redouble one's exertions to achieve a goal.
- Courir après les cotillons To pursue amorous or romantic adventures.
- Avoir de la tchatche To be talkative and persuasive, to have the gift of gab.
- Tomber à l’eau To be canceled or abandoned.
- Faire le pont-levis For a horse to rear up very high.
Explore another collection: Proverbs
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- Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps A single encouraging sign does not prove a trend.
- L'enfer est pavé de bonnes intentions Meaning well counts for nothing without acting well.
- Qui trop embrasse mal étreint Attempting too many things at once means doing none of them properly.
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