y avoir anguille sous roche

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/
  • Audio(file)

Verb

y avoir anguille sous roche

  1. (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
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