petit juif

French

Etymology

From petit (“small”) +‎ juif (“Jew”). Allegedly the expression came from the time when most cloth merchants in France were Jewish, and would regularly hurt their arm on that spot against a bench while measuring fabric by wrapping it around an arm as an 'anthropomorphic' length measure, the aulne (compare ell).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pə.ti ʒɥif/

• Audio (CAN)

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Noun

petit juif m (plural petits juifs)

1. funny bone

References

• www.expressio.fr a francophone site on expressions in French