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y avoir anguille sous roche. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
y avoir anguille sous roche, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
y avoir anguille sous roche in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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y avoir anguille sous roche, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
French
Etymology
Literally, “there is an eel hidden beneath a rock”. Compare also Latin latet anguis in herbā (whence English snake in the grass), as well as Dutch addertje onder het gras.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /i.j‿a.vwa.ʁ‿ɑ̃.ɡij su ʁɔʃ/
Verb
y avoir anguille sous roche
- (impersonal, figuratively) for there to be something fishy and suspicious going on, for there to be something in the wind, in the offing
- il y a anguille sous roche ― I smell a rat; something is afoot.
Further reading
- "y avoir anguille sous roche", Dictionnaire des francophones
- "il y a anguille sous roche", Les nouvelles expressions de monsieur dictionnaire, Jacques Mercier, 2017, p.12