يعمل من الحبة قبة (Ya'mal min al-ḥabba qubba)
Meaning: To blow something tiny completely out of proportion.
Language: Arabic
Literally: To build a dome out of a seed
Category: The Absurd
Origin: A rhyming Levantine and Egyptian image — habba (seed) swelling into qubba (dome), a grain becoming monumental architecture.
More idioms — The Absurd
- Helt texas — Utterly wild, chaotic or out of control.
- Det blæser en halv pelikan — It is extremely windy.
- Ei ole kaikki muumit laaksossa — Someone isn't quite all there.
- לאכול סרטים (Le'ekhol sratim) — To overthink and imagine dramatic worst-case scenarios.
- خر بیار و باقالی بار کن (khar biyār o bāqālī bār kon) — Utter chaos; an endless, overwhelming mess.
- Da wird der Hund in der Pfanne verrückt — An exclamation of utter disbelief.
More Arabic idioms
- اللي على راسه بطحة بيحسس عليها (illi ʿala rasu baṭḥa byiḥassis ʿalayha) — The guilty person gives himself away.
- الحبل على الكذب قصير (al-ḥabl ʿalā al-kadhib qaṣīr) — Lies never last; they are soon exposed.
- يد واحدة لا تصفق (yad wāḥida lā tuṣaffiqu) — Nothing is achieved without cooperation.
- الجمل ما يشوف عوجة رقبته (Al-jamal mā yshūf 'awjat raqabatuh) — People are blind to their own faults.
- تمخض الجبل فولد فأرا (tamakhaḍa al-jabalu fa-walada fa'ran) — A huge fuss producing a tiny result.
- يضرب في حديد بارد (yadrib fi hadid barid) — To waste effort on a hopeless task.
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