Le benjamin
Meaning: The youngest member of a family, team or group.
Language: French
Literally: The Benjamin
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From Benjamin, the last-born of Jacob's twelve sons in Genesis and his father's favorite. French uses it neutrally for age alone, though the biblical figure carries the sense of a cherished youngest.
More idioms — Daily Life
- C'est la Bérézina — A total, chaotic disaster.
- Chercher la petite bête — To nitpick; to hunt for a trivial fault.
- Passer sur le billard — To undergo surgery.
- Se faire blackbouler — To be rejected, voted down or heavily defeated in an election.
- Une arme blanche — A bladed weapon, as opposed to a firearm.
- Blanchir de l'argent — To launder money.
More French idioms
- Au petit bonheur la chance — Haphazardly, leaving the outcome entirely to chance.
- Avoir la bosse de — To have a natural gift for something, as in avoir la bosse des maths.
- Rabattre le caquet à quelqu'un — To shut someone up; to take an insolent person down a peg.
- Caracoler en tête — To lead by a wide margin, especially in a race or in polls.
- Muet comme une carpe — Completely silent; saying absolutely nothing.
- La caque sent toujours le hareng — However far you rise, low origins always show through.
From our tongue twisters
- Didon dîna, dit-on, du dos d'un dodu dindon dont le dodu dos dodine. — A 'd' / 'din' / 'dod' avalanche that seems designed to jam the tongue in third gear.
- Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. — The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler.
- Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches? — A merciless duel between 'ch' and 's'.
Loading the full interactive collection…