Imagine you’re sitting in a caf\u00e9 in Tokyo when your Japanese friend suddenly tells you they’re going to “turn over the palm of their hand.” Or you’re wandering through the streets of Reykjavik and someone suggests you “lay your head in water” before making a big decision. Confusing? Absolutely. Fascinating? Even more so.<\/p>\n
These are idioms \u2014 and they’re one of the most delightfully weird corners of any language. Every culture has them, every language is packed with them, and once you start noticing them, you simply can’t stop. Whether you’re a seasoned language learner or just language-curious, idioms are your secret window into how people around the world actually think.<\/p>\n
An idiom is a phrase or expression whose meaning can’t be figured out just by looking at the individual words. The words themselves might paint one picture, but the real meaning is something else entirely.<\/p>\n
Take the English expression “break a leg.” If you heard that for the first time without any context, you might be genuinely alarmed. But any native English speaker knows it simply means “good luck.” That’s the magic \u2014 and the madness \u2014 of idioms.<\/p>\n
Other classic English idioms include:<\/p>\n
Native speakers use idioms constantly \u2014 often without even realizing it. They’re woven so deeply into everyday conversation that they feel as natural as breathing. For language learners, though, they can be a source of total confusion. And that’s exactly why they’re worth studying.<\/p>\n
Here’s the thing that makes idioms even more interesting: most of them started out as completely literal expressions. Over time, the original meaning faded from popular memory, but the phrase stuck around and took on a new figurative life.<\/p>\n
Consider the English idiom “to cost an arm and a leg,” meaning something is extremely expensive. Its roots trace back to 18th-century portrait painting, when artists would charge more depending on how many limbs they were required to paint. Wealthy but budget-conscious clients would sometimes commission portraits that conveniently excluded arms or legs to keep costs down. The phrase survived long after portrait-sitting fees became irrelevant.<\/p>\n
And it doesn’t stop at English. Even within the same language, idioms can shift dramatically depending on the country. In England, someone who’s acting erratically might be described as having “bats in the belfry” \u2014 a reference to bats flying chaotically through the top of a church tower. In Australia, that same idea gets a local twist: “He’s got a kangaroo loose in the top paddock.” Same meaning, completely different cultural flavor.<\/p>\n
Idioms don’t exist in a vacuum. They grow out of a culture’s environment, history, food, climate, and daily life. That’s why an idiom that makes perfect sense in one country can sound completely absurd in another.<\/p>\n
In Cuba, for example, you might hear: “\u00a1Se form\u00f3 tremendo arroz con mango!”<\/em> \u2014 which literally translates to “This turned into a serious bowl of rice with mango.” The expression means something has become a chaotic mess. It makes intuitive sense in the Caribbean, where mango is a staple fruit and an unexpected addition to rice would be genuinely disruptive.<\/p>\n Try using that same expression in Stockholm, though, and it falls flat. Mango doesn’t grow in Sweden, so the imagery simply doesn’t resonate. Instead, Swedish speakers might say: “Skita i det bl\u00e5a sk\u00e5pet”<\/em> \u2014 roughly, to relieve yourself in a blue cabinet. The “blue cabinet” is thought to refer to a piece of prestigious furniture, since Prussian blue paint was extraordinarily expensive in Sweden during the 1800s. The expression means to do something completely pointless or to make a mess of things.<\/p>\n Both idioms convey the same general idea, yet each one is a tiny capsule of its own cultural world. That’s what makes idioms such a powerful tool for understanding a language on a deeper level \u2014 they reveal how people in a given place make sense of their surroundings.<\/p>\n Ready to see just how creative \u2014 and wonderfully strange \u2014 human languages can be? Here are 20 idioms from 20 different languages, along with their literal translations and the closest English equivalents. Keep in mind that not every idiom has a perfect match across languages; sometimes the best we can do is get close to the feeling.<\/p>\n Idiom:<\/strong> Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Co\u00fbter les yeux de la t\u00eate.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Estou cagando e andando.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Tomar el pelo.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> \u624b\u306e\u3072\u3089\u3092\u8fd4\u3059 (Te no hira wo kaesu).<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Sk\u00e4gget i brevl\u00e5dan.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> \u0627\u0644\u062a\u0643\u0631\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0639\u0644\u0651\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u062d\u0645\u0627\u0631 (At-Tikraar yu’allem al-Himaar).<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Jedn\u00edm uchem tam, druh\u00fdm ven.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Gooreto gom kon!<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Lyja kirviais.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Binyagan na yan!<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Over koetjes en kalfjes praten.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Mie\u0107 muchy w nosie.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> M\u00e8o khen m\u00e8o d\u00e0i \u0111u\u00f4i.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Ogni morte di papa.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Gate san.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> \u00c5 snakke rett fra leveren.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> \u629b\u7816\u5f15\u7389 (p\u0101o zhu\u0101n y\u01d0n y\u00f9).<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> A\u00f0 leggja h\u00f6fu\u00f0i\u00f0 \u00ed bleyti.<\/em> Idiom:<\/strong> Skita i det bl\u00e5a sk\u00e5pet.<\/em> Textbooks will teach you grammar rules and vocabulary lists, but idioms will teach you how people actually speak. When you understand the idioms of a language, you start to understand its humor, its values, and its history \u2014 all at once.<\/p>\n Think about what the Italian idiom “every death of a pope” tells you about Italian culture. The papacy is woven into Italian life and history so deeply that papal deaths became a natural benchmark for rare events. Or consider the Arabic expression “repetition teaches the donkey” \u2014 a straightforward, no-nonsense take on the value of persistent practice, wrapped in the kind of dry humor that makes it instantly memorable.<\/p>\n Idioms also help you connect with native speakers in a way that perfect grammar alone simply can’t. Drop a well-timed idiom into a conversation and you’ll likely be met with a surprised smile \u2014 the kind that says, “You really get us.”<\/em><\/p>\n The good news is that you don’t need to memorize hundreds of idioms to start benefiting from them. Here are a few practical ways to get started:<\/p>\n Every idiom on this list is a tiny story \u2014 a glimpse into the lives, landscapes, and humor of the people who use it. From axes falling from the Lithuanian sky to Norwegian hearts speaking through the liver, these expressions remind us that language is never just about words. It’s about the world those words grew up in.<\/p>\n So the next time you’re learning a new language, don’t skip straight to the grammar drills. Spend some time with the idioms. Let them make you laugh, puzzle over them, look up their origins. You might just find that they’re the most human part of any language \u2014 and the most memorable.<\/p>\n Happy learning, and may your language journey never cost you the eyes of your head.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Discover 20 funny idioms from languages around the world and learn what they reveal about culture, history, and the quirky way humans think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2005,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002\/revisions\/2005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}20 Hilarious Idioms From Languages Around the World<\/h2>\n
1. German<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> The morning hour has gold in its mouth.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> The early bird gets the worm.<\/p>\n2. French<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> To cost the eyes of the head.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> To cost an arm and a leg.<\/p>\n3. Brazilian Portuguese<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> I’m doing my business and walking at the same time.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> I couldn’t care less.<\/p>\n4. Spanish<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> To grab someone’s hair.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> To pull someone’s leg.<\/p>\n5. Japanese<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> To turn over the palm of your hand.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> To give someone the cold shoulder.<\/p>\n6. Swedish<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> Caught with your beard in a mailbox.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> To be caught with your pants down.<\/p>\n7. Arabic<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> Repetition teaches the donkey.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> Practice makes perfect.<\/p>\n8. Czech<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> In one ear, out the other.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> Like water off a duck’s back.<\/p>\n9. Farsi (Persian)<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> Go lose your grave!
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> Get out of here!<\/p>\n10. Lithuanian<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> It’s raining axes.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> It’s raining cats and dogs.<\/p>\n11. Tagalog<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> Baptize it already!
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> Just use it already \u2014 get it over with!<\/p>\n12. Dutch<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> To talk about little cows and little calves.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> To make small talk.<\/p>\n13. Polish<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> To have flies up one’s nose.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> To have one’s knickers in a twist.<\/p>\n14. Vietnamese<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> The cat praises the cat’s own long tail.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> Every cook praises their own broth. (Self-promotion!)<\/p>\n15. Italian<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> Every death of a pope.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> Once in a blue moon.<\/p>\n16. Haitian Creole<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> Rotten blood.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> To make someone’s blood boil.<\/p>\n17. Norwegian<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> To speak directly from the liver.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> To speak bluntly, without sugar-coating.<\/p>\n18. Mandarin Chinese<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> To throw a brick in order to attract jade.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> To put forward a rough idea to inspire something better.<\/p>\n19. Icelandic<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> To lay your head in water.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> To sleep on it.<\/p>\n20. Swedish (Bonus!)<\/h2>\n
\nLiterally:<\/strong> To relieve yourself in the blue cabinet.
\nEnglish equivalent:<\/strong> To do something completely pointless or make a mess of things.<\/p>\nWhy Learning Idioms Makes You a Better Language Learner<\/h2>\n
How to Start Learning Idioms in a New Language<\/h2>\n
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Language Is a Living, Breathing Thing<\/h2>\n