Ôter une épine du pied à quelqu'un
Meaning: To relieve someone of a persistent difficulty.
Language: French
Literally: To take a thorn out of someone's foot
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: A thorn in the foot is a small injury that makes every step painful, which is the register of the problem being solved — chronic and disproportionately obstructive rather than catastrophic.
More idioms — Body & Senses
- Un écorché vif — Someone painfully hypersensitive to everything around them.
- L'huile de coude — Hard physical effort; elbow grease.
- Couper l'herbe sous le pied de quelqu'un — To forestall someone by acting first.
- Ne pas mâcher ses mots — To speak with complete bluntness.
- Il faut tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche avant de parler — Think carefully before you speak.
- En avoir gros sur le cœur — To be full of unspoken hurt or resentment.
More French idioms
- Se croire sorti de la cuisse de Jupiter — To have an absurdly high opinion of one's own importance.
- Le tonneau des Danaïdes — A hopeless undertaking that consumes everything and is never finished.
- Au diable vauvert — Miles from anywhere; the back of beyond.
- Il n'y a pas le feu au lac — There's no rush.
- Par l'opération du Saint-Esprit — By some unexplained miracle — said sarcastically of something nobody will account for.
- Au creux de la vague — At a low point, with the expectation that things will rise again.
From our false friends
- Ignorer — Actually means 'to be unaware of' or 'not to know'. J'ignore la réponse = I don't know th…
- Déception — Actually means 'disappointment'. For deception (a trick), say tromperie.
- Monnaie — Actually means 'change' or 'coins'. Money in general is l'argent.
Loading the full interactive collection…