Cat, dog, rodent-based expressions
Appeler un chat un chat - to call a cat a cat, to call a spade a spade (to speak plainly)
Acheter chat en poche - to buy a cat in a bag, to buy a pig in a poke (to purchase something sight unseen)
Avoir d’autres chats à fouetter - to have other cats to whip, to have bigger fish to fry (to have more important things to do)
Avoir des yeux de chat - to have cat’s eyes, to have sharp (especially night) vision; to be very watchful
Avoir neuf vies comme un chat - to have nine lives like a cat, to be very resilient or lucky
Avoir un chat dans la gorge - to have a cat in the throat, to have a frog in one’s throat (to be hoarse)
Chat échaudé craint l’eau froide -a scalded cat fears cold water, once bitten, twice shy
Chat de gouttière - gutter cat, alley cat / stray cat; a person of rough or street‑smart character
C’est du pipi de chat - it’s cat pee, it’s mediocre
Donner sa langue au chat - to give one’s tongue to the cat, to give up (when unable to guess an answer)
Donner un chat pour un lapin - to give a cat for a rabbit, to pull the wool over someone’s eyes (to substitute something inferior)
Écrire comme un chat - to write like a cat, to have terrible handwriting (like cat scratches)
Être comme chien et chat - to be like dog and cat, to fight like cats and dogs (to argue constantly)
Faire le chat - to play the cat / act the cat, to behave coyly, slyly, or evasively (often in flirtation or play)
Il n’y a pas un chat - there isn’t a cat, there’s nobody there
Jouer au chat et à la souris - to play cat and mouse, to toy with someone
La nuit, tous les chats sont gris - at night, all cats are grey, in the dark, all things look the same (appearances don’t matter in obscurity)
Manger comme un chat - to eat like a cat, to eat daintily
Ne réveillez pas le chat qui dort / Il ne faut pas réveiller le chat qui dort - don’t wake the sleeping cat, let sleeping dogs lie (avoid stirring up trouble)
Quand le chat n’est pas là, les souris dansent - when the cat isn’t there, the mice dance, when the cat’s away, the mice will play
S’entendre comme chien et chat - to get along like dog and cat, to fight like cats and dogs
Tomber sur ses pattes comme un chat - to land on one’s feet like a cat, to land on one’s feet (to emerge successfully from difficulty)
Un vieux chat - an old cat, a sly old fox (a cunning, experienced person)
Vendre chat en poche - to sell a cat in a bag, to sell a pig in a poke
Avoir du chien - to have some dog, to be charming, stylish
Une vie de chien - a dog’s life, a miserable, hard life
Il fait un temps de chien - it’s dog weather, terrible weather
Entre chien et loup - between dog and wolf, dusk/twilight; ambiguous, in-between time
Se donner un mal de chien - to give oneself a dog’s pain, to go to great trouble, work extremely hard
Les chiens aboient, la caravane passe -dogs bark, the caravan moves on, critics will talk, but life/success goes on
Avoir un caractère de chien - to have a dog’s character, to have a bad temper (in general)
Être d’une humeur de chien - to be in a dog’s mood, to be in a foul mood (right now)
Ce n'est pas fait pour les chiens - it is not made for dogs, it is there for a reason (typically accusatory)
Arriver comme un chien dans un jeu de quilles - to be received like a dog in a game of skittles, to be given a cold welcome
Un chien de la casse - a scrapyard dog, a selfish, aggressive man, in life or in flirting (super casual)
Les chiens ne font pas des chats - dogs don’t make cats, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
Le chien du jardinier - the gardener’s dog, someone who prevents others from enjoying what they cannot use
Avoir la queue entre les pattes - to have the tail between the legs, to be ashamed or humbled
En chien de fusil - in rifle dog, curled up (sleeping position)
Donner la patte - to give the paw, to offer help or a small concession
Revenir comme un chien battu - to come back like a beaten dog, to return humbly or shamefully after failure
Chien qui dort ne peut mordre - a sleeping dog cannot bite, let sleeping dogs lie
Ne pas aboyer après la lune - not to bark at the moon, don’t waste energy on impossible goals
Faire le chien savant - to play the skilled dog, to show off trivial or pretentious knowledge
Faire le chien de garde - to act as a guard dog, to watch over something closely
Chien de berger - shepherd dog, a guide/leader
Chien de garde - guard dog, watchdog (financial/media)
Chienlit - dog bed (archaic), chaos, disorder (from chié dans le lit, linked to the May 1968 protests)
Mener une vie de chien - to lead a dog’s life, to have a hard, miserable life
Un mal de chien - a dog’s pain, terrible pain/difficult situation
Avoir un chien dans le viseur - to have a dog in the sights, to have someone in your sights/target
Faire la souris - to play the mouse, to act very shy or quiet
Manger comme une souris - to eat like a mouse, to eat very little
Se faire prendre comme une souris - to be caught like a mouse, to be caught easily, often while unsuspecting
Être coincé comme une souris dans un piège - to be stuck like a mouse in a trap, to be trapped in a hopeless situation
Un trou de souris - a mouse hole, a cramped space
Passer par un trou de souris - to go through a mouse hole, to squeeze through a very narrow space
Une souris grise - a grey mouse, a dull, inconspicuous person
Un nid à souris - a mouse’s nest, a messy tangle (wires/hair)
À bon chat, bon rat- to a good cat, a good rat, tit for tat; a fair fight between well-matched opponents
Être un rat - to be a rat, to be a traitor, a snitch, or stingy
Un rat de bibliothèque - a library rat, a bookworm
Un rat de ville / Un rat des champs - a city rat / a country rat, from La Fontaine’s fable: a city dweller VS a country dweller (“The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse”)
Sentir le rat - to smell the rat, to suspect that something is wrong
Être fait comme un rat - to be done like a rat, to be caught red-handed or trapped
Mourir comme un rat - to die like a rat, miserably, alone, or poor
Un trou à rats - a rat hole, a filthy, rundown place
Un rat d’égout - sewer rat, a despicable person
S'ennuyer comme un rat mort - to be as bored as a dead rat - extremely bored (very casual)
Fuir comme un rat quitte un navire qui coule - to flee like a rat leaving a sinking ship, to abandon a failing enterprise at the first sign of trouble.
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