Fare le corna
Meaning: To ward off bad luck — or to signal that a partner is being unfaithful.
Language: Italian
Literally: To make the horns
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: The horned-hand gesture reaches back to ancient Mediterranean superstition against the evil eye, still flashed across Italy today.
More idioms — Body & Senses
- Stare con le mani in mano — To stand around doing nothing while others work.
- 腹が黒い (hara ga kuroi) — Scheming and malicious behind a friendly face.
- Зарубить на носу (Zarubit' na nosu) — To remember something firmly, once and for all.
- Iets onder de knie hebben — To have mastered a skill.
- اللي على راسه بطحة بيحسس عليها (illi ʿala rasu baṭḥa byiḥassis ʿalayha) — The guilty person gives himself away.
- Avoir le bras long — To have influence and useful connections.
More Italian idioms
- Tagliare la testa al toro — To settle a matter decisively, once and for all.
- Avere le mani in pasta — To be deeply involved in something.
- Non ci piove — There's no doubt about it whatsoever.
- Non avere peli sulla lingua — To speak bluntly and hold nothing back.
- Liscio come l'olio — To go off without a hitch.
- Fare il portoghese — To sneak in without paying.
From our untranslatable words
- Meriggiare — To take a quiet midday rest in a cool, shaded spot, escaping the fierce afternoon sun.
- Magari — One word doing the work of 'if only', 'I wish', 'perhaps' and 'you bet' — the tone decide…
- Sprezzatura — The art of making something difficult look wholly effortless, hiding every trace of the w…