Se faire de la bile
Meaning: To worry oneself sick.
Language: French
Literally: To make bile for oneself
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: From humoral medicine, in which an excess of yellow bile produced anger and anxiety — the same theory that gave English 'bilious' and 'melancholy', literally black bile. French keeps several variants, including se faire du mauvais sang, to make bad blood for oneself.
More idioms — Body & Senses
- Dans le plus simple appareil — Stark naked.
- Tomber dans les pommes — Suddenly losing consciousness — possibly derived from the older expression 'être dans les…
- Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez — To be getting angry.
- Couper les cheveux en quatre — To over-analyze or split hairs.
- Se regarder le nombril — To be self-centered or narcissistic.
- Tomaten auf den Augen haben — To be oblivious to what's right in front of you.
More French idioms
- L'arbre qui cache la forêt — A conspicuous detail that distracts attention from the larger reality behind it.
- Jeter son bonnet par-dessus les moulins — To throw propriety to the wind and stop caring what people think.
- Un baroud d'honneur — A last stand fought for honor when defeat is already certain.
- Un ange passe — Said to acknowledge a sudden awkward silence in a conversation.
- Être aux anges — To be overjoyed, in raptures.
- Être aux abonnés absents — To be unreachable, or to fail to show up when needed.
From our false friends
- Attendre — Actually means 'to wait for'. J'attends le bus = I'm waiting for the bus. For attend an e…
- Actuel — Actually means 'current' or 'present-day'. Actuellement = currently — not 'actually'.
- Blesser — Actually means 'to wound' or 'to injure'. Je suis blessé = I am injured — not blessed.
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