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أكل العيش والملح مع شخص

Meaning: Shared intimate bond or deep friendship forged through shared hardship and simple living together.

Language: Arabic

Literally: Ate bread and salt with someone.

Category: Food & Drink

Origin: Arab hospitality tradition where breaking bread and salt together created sacred bonds of loyalty; salt symbolized covenant in Semitic cultures.

More idioms — Food & Drink

  • take the biscuit — to be the most outrageous or remarkable thing; to win or excel.
  • give someone the cold shoulder — to deliberately treat someone with indifference or ignore them.
  • spill the tea — to reveal gossip or scandalous information.
  • not worth your salt — incompetent; not deserving of wages or respect.
  • bring home the bacon — to provide income; to succeed in earning money.
  • a storm in a teacup — excessive fuss over something trivial; tempest in a teapot.

More Arabic idioms

  • حط في بطنك بطيخة صيفي — Relax completely; do not worry about a thing.
  • يعمل من الحبة قبة — To blow something tiny completely out of proportion.
  • اللي على راسه بطحة بيحسس عليها — The guilty person gives himself away.
  • الحبل على الكذب قصير — Lies never last; they are soon exposed.
  • يد واحدة لا تصفق — Nothing is achieved without cooperation.
  • الجمل ما يشوف عوجة رقبته — People are blind to their own faults.

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