Un chaud lapin
Meaning: A man with a voracious appetite for sex.
Language: French
Literally: A hot rabbit
Category: Animals
Origin: Built on the rabbit's genuinely remarkable arithmetic. A doe carries a litter about 31 days, can bear up to a dozen young, and can be fertilized again within roughly a day of giving birth — which a buck sharing the hutch will not decline. Chaud carries the sense used of animals in rut, and the phrase simply transfers that appetite to a man. A note on the word itself: French called the animal connil or connin from Latin cuniculus, which is why rabbit farming is still cuniculture; lapin only takes over from the 16th century.
More idioms — Animals
- Faire devenir chèvre — To drive someone up the wall.
- Take the wrong sow by the ear — To go after the wrong target, or blame the wrong person.
- Avaler des couleuvres — To put up with insults or humiliations without being able to protest; also, to swallow an…
- Comme un coq en pâte — Thoroughly pampered; living in complete comfort.
- Ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard — It's nothing special or impressive.
- Avoir le cafard — To feel depressed or down.
More French idioms
- Passer à la casserole — To be killed; to be put through something thoroughly unpleasant; or, said of a woman, to…
- Traîner une casserole — To be trailed by a past scandal that others keep bringing up.
- S'en battre l'œil / S'en tamponner le coquillard — To not care in the slightest.
- C'est dans mes cordes — It is within my competence; I can handle that.
- Filer un mauvais coton — To be going downhill — in health, or in one's situation generally.
- Tirer son coup — For a man, to have an orgasm. Vulgar.
From our proverbs
- He's a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs. — True friendship reveals itself in loyalty when no personal gain or flattery is possible.
- Good harvests make men prodigal, bad ones provident. — Abundance breeds carelessness; scarcity teaches careful resource management through hard…
- A good maxim is never out of season. — Wise principles remain valuable and applicable regardless of circumstances or timing.
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