Le jeu n'en vaut pas la chandelle
Meaning: The effort or cost outweighs anything to be gained.
Language: French
Literally: The game is not worth the candle
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Gambling in the evening required a candle, which players paid for. If the stakes were small enough that the winnings would not cover the lighting, the game was literally not worth playing.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Tenir la chandelle — To be the awkward third party to a couple.
- Sur les chapeaux de roues — At top speed; also, of a start, immediately and forcefully.
- Avoir voix au chapitre — To have a say in a decision.
- Trouver chaussure à son pied — To find exactly the right match, usually a partner.
- Ne pas y aller par quatre chemins — To come straight to the point.
- Tous les chemins mènent à Rome — There are many routes to the same result.
More French idioms
- Un chevalier d'industrie — A swindler who lives by his wits at others' expense.
- La cheville ouvrière — The linchpin — the person or thing on which an entire operation turns.
- Une chiffe molle — A spineless person with no will of their own.
- Être au septième ciel — To be in a state of perfect happiness.
- Mettre la clé sous la porte — To shut up shop; to go out of business.
- Ne pas être grand clerc — Not to be much of an expert — used to say that no expertise is needed to see something.
From our compliments & insults
- T'as pas inventé le fil à couper le beurre — You're not exactly a genius — the wire to cut butter is about the most obvious tool imagi…
- Tête de mule — An impossibly stubborn person who refuses to change their mind no matter what.
- C'est une vraie chèvre — They're hopelessly stubborn and infuriating — a goat that refuses to be moved.
Browse all compliments & insults →
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