Nourri dans le sérail
Meaning: Brought up inside an institution and knowing all its workings.
Language: French
Literally: Raised in the seraglio
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From Racine's Bajazet — nourri dans le sérail, j'en connais les détours, raised in the seraglio, I know its turnings. It is said of insiders, usually with some suspicion.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Ce n'est pas une sinécure — It is not an easy job.
- Une chasse aux sorcières — A campaign of persecution driven by suspicion rather than evidence.
- Pas besoin de sortir de Saint-Cyr — It doesn't take a genius to work that out.
- Faire table rase — To sweep everything away and start from nothing.
- Rendre son tablier — To resign, usually in protest.
- Sans tambour ni trompette — Discreetly, without any announcement.
More French idioms
- Prendre le taureau par les cornes — To tackle a difficulty head-on instead of avoiding it.
- Les vaches maigres — A period of hardship and scarcity — the opposite of les vaches grasses.
- Les vaches grasses — A period of plenty.
- Aller comme un tablier à une vache — To suit someone appallingly badly.
- Adorer le veau d'or — To make money one's god.
- Une tunique de Nessus — A gift that destroys the person who accepts it.
From our untranslatable words
- Épanouissement — The full flourishing of a person — blooming into your most complete, radiant self. More t…
- Ressourcement — The act of returning to one's roots or origins to find renewal — going back to a place, t…
- Dépaysement — The disorienting yet often pleasant feeling of being far from home, immersed in the unfam…
Browse all untranslatable words →
Loading the full interactive collection…