DutchIets voor een appel en een ei kopen
Meaning: To get something for next to nothing.
Literally: To buy something for an apple and an egg
Example: “Ik heb die fiets op de rommelmarkt voor een appel en een ei gekocht.” — I bought that bike for a song at the flea market.
English equivalent: To buy something for a song
Origin: Apples and eggs were things of little value, and medieval Dutch already used them to measure a trifle: a 16th-century proverb collection says a quarrel is "not about an apple or an egg," and Middle Dutch used niet een ei (not an egg) for "nothing at all." Stoett's dictionary of Dutch idioms (1923–25) finds the modern buying-and-selling form first in Justus van Effen's Hollandsche Spectator in the 1730s. German has the same pair in für einen Apfel und ein Ei.
Equivalents in other languages
English: buy something for a song
More Dutch idioms
- De hond in de pot vinden To arrive too late — the food, or the opportunity, is gone.
- Iets onder de knie hebben To have mastered a skill.
- Met de neus in de boter vallen To arrive at exactly the right, lucky moment.
- Het regent pijpenstelen It is raining very heavily.
- Iets met de Franse slag doen To do it carelessly and half-heartedly.
- De kat uit de boom kijken To wait cautiously before committing.
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