через огонь, воду и медные трубы
Meaning: To endure any hardship or ordeal without hesitation; to go through anything for someone or something.
Language: Russian
Literally: through fire, water, and copper pipes
Category: Nature
Origin: The phrase draws on ancient tests of courage and purification—fire and water as primal obstacles. The copper pipes may reflect Russian folk imagery or later literary use, though the core image of fire and water is ancient.
More idioms — Nature
- за тридевять земель — An extremely distant, remote place; somewhere impossibly far away.
- в лес дрова возить — to do something pointless or redundant; to offer something to someone who already has ple…
- Avoir le vent en poupe — To be doing very well; everything is going your way.
- Avoir la tête dans les nuages — To be a daydreamer; out of touch with reality.
- Jeter de l'huile sur le feu — To make a bad situation worse.
- faire la pluie et le beau temps — Having complete control over a situation or someone's fate.
More Russian idioms
- книга за семью печатями — Something utterly mysterious and incomprehensible; a complete enigma.
- в Тулу со своим самоваром — To do something pointless or wasteful; to bring something unnecessary or redundant to a p…
- проверять на вшивость — To scrutinize or investigate someone closely to uncover hidden faults or problems; to vet…
- в долгах как в шелках — To be deeply and hopelessly in debt.
- положа руку на сердце — Speaking with complete sincerity and honesty.
- до свадьбы заживёт — A minor injury or problem will resolve itself naturally and quickly.
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