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N'en avoir cure

Meaning: To be entirely indifferent to something.

Language: French

Literally: To have no care of it

Category: Daily Life

Origin: Cure here is Latin cura, care or concern, the same root as curate and curator — nothing to do with remedies. The noun survives in modern French almost solely inside this phrase.

More idioms — Daily Life

  • Virer sa cuti — To undergo a complete change of convictions.
  • Au grand dam de quelqu'un — To someone's considerable detriment or annoyance.
  • Trouver son chemin de Damas — To undergo a sudden and total conversion.
  • Une épée de Damoclès — A disaster hanging over someone, liable to fall at any moment.
  • Entretenir une danseuse — To maintain a costly indulgence that serves no purpose.
  • À l'usage du Dauphin — Expurgated; censored for delicate sensibilities.

More French idioms

  • Les dés sont pipés — The outcome is rigged in advance.
  • Au débotté — On the spot, with no time to prepare.
  • Les délices de Capoue — Comfort that saps the will to keep fighting.
  • Après moi le déluge — What happens once I am gone is not my problem.
  • Le démon de midi — The midlife crisis, especially its romantic form.
  • Mentir comme un arracheur de dents — To lie brazenly and habitually.

From our proverbs

  • A bit in the morning is better than nothing all day. — Early action, however modest, accomplishes more than delayed grand efforts.
  • A black plum is as sweet as a white. — Outward appearance reveals nothing about inner quality or worth.
  • Who so blind as he that will not see? — Willful ignorance is the most complete blindness; refusing truth is worse than lacking it.

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