'n Halwe eier is beter as 'n leë dop
Meaning: Half a loaf is better than none.
Language: Afrikaans
Literally: Half an egg is better than an empty shell
Category: Food & Drink
Origin: An Afrikaans proverb that a little something always beats nothing at all.
More idioms — Food & Drink
- Mvumilivu hula mbivu — Patience is rewarded.
- لوہے کے چنے چبانا (lohe ke chane chabana) — To face an extremely hard, gruelling task.
- Estar nas verzas — To be daydreaming and distracted.
- Arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupe — To show up at a completely inopportune, awkward moment.
- hash slinger — A cook or server in a cheap restaurant, often regarded as rude or inattentive.
- sugarcoat the pill — To make something unpleasant more palatable or easier to accept.
More Afrikaans idioms
- Nou is die gort gaar — Now we're really in trouble.
- Jakkals trou met wolf se vrou — A sunshower — rain while the sun shines.
- Hy is van sy trollie af — He has lost his mind.
- Koeitjies en kalfies — Idle small talk.
- Bobbejaan agter die bult — To worry about troubles that may never come.
- So skaars soos hoendertande — Extremely rare; almost non-existent.
From our tongue twisters
- На дворе трава, на траве дрова. (Na dvore trava, na trave drova.) — A short but nasty 'tr/dr' blend — the consonant clusters that trip up every learner of Ru…
- Шла Саша по шоссе и сосала сушку. (Shla Sasha po shosse i sosala sushku.) — A merciless 'sh/s/ss' collision — Sasha walking, sucking, and all those sibilants.
- Карл у Клары украл кораллы, Клара у Карла украла кларнет. (Karl u Klary ukral korally, Klara u Karla ukrala klarnet.) — A 'kl/kr/r' drama — crime, countercrimes, and consonant clusters all at once.