Englishflat broke
Meaning: Have absolutely no money.
Example: “After paying for the concert tickets, I'm flat broke until payday.”
Equivalents in other languages
Italian: Essere al verde Literally: To be at the green
Russian: Гол как сокол (Gol kak sokol) Literally: Bare as a falcon
French: Fauché comme les blés Literally: Mown like the wheat
Origin: Combines two pieces with a long separate history: "broke," for penniless, traces to an old sense of "broken" current since the late 1500s, describing someone whose finances had genuinely collapsed rather than merely run low. "Flat" contributes its familiar intensifying sense of "completely" or "utterly" — the same job it does in "flat wrong" or "flat out" — turning ordinary broke into total, undeniable broke. The combined phrase dates to the mid-1800s, and sits alongside a small family of equally emphatic variants that arose around the same time, including "dead broke" and "stone broke," all leaning on a different intensifier to make the same blunt point.
More English idioms
- for crying out loud An exclamation of exasperation or impatience.
- for goodness' sake A mild exclamation of annoyance, surprise or urgency.
- for heaven's sake An exclamation of impatience, surprise or pleading.
- for the birds A waste of time; mixed up or confused.
- forty winks A short sleep, usually during the day.
- from day one From the beginning; from the outset.
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