Conter fleurette
Meaning: To woo someone with sweet talk.
Language: French
Literally: To tell little flowers
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Fleurette is a small flower and by extension a pretty nothing said to a woman. English very likely took flirt from this phrase, borrowing it in the 16th century and handing it back unrecognizable.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Des manœuvres florentines — Devious, elaborately indirect political scheming.
- De bonne foi — Sincerely, without intent to deceive.
- S'attirer les foudres de quelqu'un — To bring down someone's wrath on oneself.
- Ne pas pouvoir être au four et au moulin — To be unable to be in two places at once.
- Épater la galerie — To show off for the benefit of onlookers.
- Sans crier gare — Without any warning at all.
More French idioms
- Une promesse de Gascon — A promise nobody expects to be kept.
- Vouer aux gémonies — To denounce someone publicly and utterly.
- Cousin germain — A first cousin.
- Faire partie du Gotha — To belong to the highest society.
- Des goûts et des couleurs on ne discute pas — There is no arguing with personal preference.
- Mettre le grappin sur quelque chose — To get one's hooks into something and not let go.
From our untranslatable words
- Épanouissement — The full flourishing of a person — blooming into your most complete, radiant self. More t…
- Ressourcement — The act of returning to one's roots or origins to find renewal — going back to a place, t…
- Dépaysement — The disorienting yet often pleasant feeling of being far from home, immersed in the unfam…
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