avoir le cafard

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French

Etymology

From cafard (melancholy). This term originated from poetry writer Baudelaire in “Les Fleurs du mal” in 1857.[1] Le cafard came to mean an extreme depression or sense of pointlessness.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /a.vwaʁ lə ka.faʁ/
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

avoir le cafard

  1. (informal, figurative) to have the blues, to feel blue
    • 1927, “J'ai l'cafard”, Jean Éblinger (music), performed by Fréhel:
      J’ai l’cafard, j’ai l’cafard / Je le sens qui me perce comme avec un poignard / La cervelle d’part en part
      I have the blues, I am feeling blue / I feel it piercing me like a dagger / Brains through and through

Conjugation

References

  1. ^ Charles Baudelaire (1855) “La Volupté”, in Les Fleurs du mal:Parfois il prend, sachant mon grand amour de l’Art, / La forme de la plus séduisante des femmes, / Et, sous de spécieux prétextes de cafard, / Accoutume ma lèvre à des philtres infâmes.