Russianдуша нараспашку (dusha naraspashku)
Meaning: Extremely open, trusting, or emotionally vulnerable with others.
Literally: Soul wide open
Example: “У нашего соседа душа нараспашку: через час он рассказал всю свою жизнь.” — Our neighbor wears his heart on his sleeve; within an hour he'd told us his whole life story.
English equivalent: To wear one's heart on one's sleeve
Equivalents in other languages
English: wear your heart on your sleeve
Origin: Draws on old Slavic folk belief locating a person's soul physically in the chest, in the small hollow between the collarbones — the same spot exposed the moment someone unfastens or throws open the collar of their shirt. Deliberately baring that specific hollow was read as a visible, physical gesture of complete openness: a person with nothing to hide, willing to expose the very place where their soul was thought to reside, held nothing back and had no concealed motive worth guarding against. No single documented source or date survives for the phrase's actual first use, but the folk-belief logic behind the image is well attested in Slavic tradition independent of the idiom itself.
More Russian idioms
- работать спустя рукава (rabotat' spustya rukava) To work carelessly, half-heartedly, without proper effort or attention.
- заморить червячка (zamorit' chervyachka) To have a light snack or small meal to satisfy hunger temporarily.
- медведь на ухо наступил (medved' na ukho nastupil) To lack musical ability or have poor sense of pitch and rhythm.
- пускать пыль в глаза (puskat' pyl' v glaza) To deceive or mislead someone, creating false impressions through trickery.
- Ни пуха ни пера (Ni pukha ni pera) Good luck — to which the ritual reply is 'To the devil!'.
- Ехать зайцем (Yekhat' zaytsem) To ride a train or bus without paying.
Explore another collection: Proverbs
Short sayings of timeless wisdom from more than 50 cultures, each with its meaning and origin.
- По одёжке встречают, по уму провожают (Po odyozhke vstrechayut, po umu provozhayut) First impressions depend on looks, but people judge you in the end by what you are.
- За двумя зайцами погонишься — ни одного не поймаешь (Za dvumya zaytsami pogonish'sya — ni odnogo ne poymaesh') Pursue two goals at once and you'll achieve neither.
- Любопытной Варваре на базаре нос оторвали (Lyubopytnoy Varvare na bazare nos otorvali) Being too curious about other people's business gets you into trouble.
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