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About this tool
Look up 45 English idioms with literal image, real meaning, a natural example, register guidance and what is actually known about the origin.
English Idiom Explainer looks up 45 common English idioms and shows four things for each: the literal picture the words paint, the figurative meaning, a natural example sentence, and whether the phrase is safe in business writing or belongs in conversation only. An idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out from its individual words, which is exactly why word-by-word translation fails on it. Origins are given only where they are documented — where the popular story is folk etymology, such as 'raining cats and dogs', the entry says so rather than repeating it as fact.
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Each idiom is tagged business-safe, neutral or informal, so you know where it can be used.
Documented histories are given as history; folk etymologies are labelled as folk etymology instead of being repeated as fact.
Partial phrases, variant wordings and plain-English descriptions all find the right entry.
An idiom is a fixed expression whose overall meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of its individual words — 'kick the bucket' means to die, not to strike a pail. Because the meaning lives in the whole phrase, idioms have to be learned as single units and rarely translate word for word.
Nobody knows. The phrase is recorded in English from the 17th century, but the familiar explanations — animals washed off thatched roofs, poor street drainage, Norse storm gods — are all folk etymology with no documentary support. It is safest to describe it simply as an old and unexplained English expression.
Some, yes. Phrases like 'the ball is in your court', 'back to the drawing board' and 'go the extra mile' are standard in business English, while 'a piece of cake' or 'pulling your leg' read as too casual in a contract or a report. Each entry here carries a register tag for exactly this reason.
An idiom is a phrase that slots into a sentence and carries no advice of its own — 'spill the beans'. A proverb is a complete sentence that states a general truth or a rule of conduct — 'don't count your chickens before they hatch'. Exams often test this distinction directly.