One of the biggest joys of traveling to French speaking countries is learning the many beautiful French expressions. Not only are they awesome to incorporate into your own speaking and writing; they give you new insights into the ways people in other cultures see the world and express themselves.

While there are many French expressions and idioms, here are 15 of the most beautiful to get started. Some of these are relics and no longer commonly used today; others you'll still hear in the streets.

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Beautiful French Expressions

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1. Perdre le nord

To lose north: to be disoriented, troubled, or worried. This expression cn also be said as perdre la boussole, to lose the compass. This expression dates from the 16th century.
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 2. Noyer le poisson

"Drown the fish." To create confusion, or attempt to elude the question or change the topic. This expression dates from the 1930's. In the 1800's, it was an expression that was used when fishermen attempted to exhaust a fish by bringing it out of the water and back in again several times."

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3. Pleurer comme une madeleine

To cry one’s heart out, to cry a river. Balzac used this expression in the 19th century. From the 13th century, faire la Madeleine was used to in the sense of repenting. Cry like a madeleine.
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4. Couper les cheveux en quatre

To be too meticulous or provide excessive details.

‍Fendre Imagine a barber. He starts cutting somebody’s hair. Then he cuts each of the hairs on the floor into four more pieces before sweeping them up and throwing them into the bin. Sounds unnecessary? Well the original expression demonstrates even more detailed, futile work. The original expression in the 17th century was fendre un cheveu en quatre came to be. means to cut in the long direction. So it would mean splitting a hair into four. Not an easy task, indeed.
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5. Sacrifier à Vénus

This is another way to say faire l’amour. Since Venus is the goddess of beauty and love, no wonder that a sacrifice to Venus would a be a beautiful euphemism for the act of having sex. "Sacrifice to Venus."
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6. Passer l’éponge

To "take a sponge over it."  This is  a metaphor of using a sponge to clean up something messy. It means to forgive, as if to erase or forget unpleasant things from the past. This includes the remission of errors committed and reprehensible acts. In English, one might say to ‘wipe the slate clean.’
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7. Défrayer la chronique

A more banal way of translating this would be to say ‘to be in the news’ ‘to be the talk of the town, to get tongues wagging’. While chronique, χρονικός is of Greek origin for time, défrayer refers to paying your expenses. To pay time.
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8. Un cautère sur une jambe de bois

A useless act. Remember Long John Silver’s wooden leg. A cosmetic gesture. A cautery on a wooden leg. Cauterizing is aimed at stopping the bleeding of a wound.
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9. On ne peut à la fois être juge et partie.

You can’t be judge and jury at the same time.

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10. Vérité en deçà des Pyrénées, erreur au delà

Deçà means on this side and is the opposite of delà. The Pyrenees separate France from Spain. So what is the truth on this side of the Pyrenees is wrong on the other side of the Pyrenees. It’s a quote from Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, physicist and philosopher from the 17th century. In English an equivalent expression is ‘A meridian decides the truth’.
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11. Faire une conduite de Grenoble

It’s not clear when this expression came to be, but most agree that it’s been around since the days France was a kingdom. This expression means to not welcome somebody, to turn somebody away.
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12. Avoir des oursins dans la poche / le porte-monnaie

To have urchins in one’s pockets / coin purse = to be stingy.
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13. Appuyer sur le champignon

To speed up. This slang expression first appeared in the first half of the 20th century. That's when accelerators were more curved like a mushroom. In modern cars they have flat surfaces. The metaphor has moved beyond the world of automobiles to carry over into speeding something up.
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14. Des vertes et des pas mûres

The green ones, not the ripe ones - unless you’re talking about green apples, limes or some other green fruit, this is a redundancy. Around the 15th century the French began to use this expression to mean raconter des histoires licencieuses. So it means licentious stories and things that are shocking or incongruous
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15. Promettre monts et merveilles

To promise mountains and marvels. This is something that politicians seem to do when they are running for office. Since the 13th century, des mints refers to a ‘great quantity’ The English expression is to promise the earth or to promise the moon.

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16. Muet comme une carpe

Mute as a carp - completely silent. Although quiet as a mouse might be the more common English expression, mute as a fish also exists. It seems popular in other languages, too, including German, Italian and Russian.

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17. Jeter son bonnet par-dessus les moulins

To throw one’s bonnet over the windmills. This expression has been around since the 17th century. The expression Jeter son bonnet also existed as an stand-alone expression. It means to recognize one’s own difficulties and limitations in solving a problem. It still means that today, but now it includes windmills. Other meanings of this expression include:

1. to give up

2. to act without fear of public opinion

3. to stop reciting (for example a poem) as a result of not remembering the rest of it.
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18. Chercher midi à 14 heures

To complicate a simple thing. This expression dates from the 17th century. Expressions before that time included chercher midi à one heures and chercher midi si loin. It demonstrates the futility of looking for something that obviously isn’t there. You’re looking for noon at 2pm. You can also use it to say that somebody is making something out of nothing, for example like making a mountain out of a mole hill.
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19. Garder une poire pour la soif

This expression literally means ‘to keep a pear for the thirst’. The idea is that since pears are juicy, they can help quench one’s thirst when water isn’t around. This expression would be used for ‘to save something for a rainy day’. It’s been around since the 16th century.
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20. Tenir à quelque chose comme à la prunelle de ses yeux.

This expression can be loosely translated to mean that you treasure something as you treasure the pupils of your eyes. Since you couldn’t read this article without the pupils of your eyes, upon reflection you really are grateful that you have your pupils. So you can use this expression to show great appreciation for something or to show that you treasure something.
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21. Le premier chien coiffé

This expression is used in the context to accept the first one that comes along. This is especially in the case that somebody has been having a hard time finding a soul mate and ultimately accepts the next one that comes along. Le premier chien coiffé can also be said as le premier chat coiffé and le premier chèvre coiffé The expression dates from the 16th century. It’s use is no longer as widespread throughout France.

What are you favorite French expressions of these 15?

Are there any that you think are particularly useful? We've got a few more French expressions for you if you need more.