Être à la merci de quelqu'un
Meaning: To be entirely in someone's power.
Language: French
Literally: To be at someone's mercy
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Merci comes from Latin merces, payment or wages, and shifted through favor granted to pity. The commercial root survives in French merci, thank you, which was originally an acknowledgement of a favor received.
More idioms — Daily Life
- La huitième merveille du monde — Something extraordinary — usually said with irony.
- Paris vaut bien une messe — A principle is worth abandoning if the prize is large enough.
- Une messe basse — A whispered aside between two people in company.
- Je vous le donne en mille — You will never guess.
- Une cour des miracles — A squalid, lawless place.
- Affirmer mordicus — To insist on something absolutely and refuse to be moved.
More French idioms
- Être dans les bras de Morphée — To be fast asleep.
- Prendre au mot — To hold someone to exactly what they said.
- Un moulin à paroles — Someone who talks incessantly.
- Sainte Nitouche — A woman who feigns innocence she does not have.
- Le nerf de la guerre — Money, as the thing without which nothing can be done.
- Convoler en justes noces — To get married.
From our compliments & insults
- Tu as le vent en poupe — Everything is going your way — you're riding a wave of momentum and success.
- Tu es un as — You're brilliant at what you do — the very best.
- Tu as de la répartie — You're brilliantly quick-witted — always ready with the perfect comeback.
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