open sesame

See also: open Sesame; open, sesame; and open, Sesame

English

Alternative forms

• open, Sesame; open, sesame; open Sesame

Etymology

From its use in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, translating French Sésame, ouvre-toi in Antoine Galland's version of the Ali Baba story in the One Thousand and One Nights, possibly based on an oral Arabic source.

Not, as some have purported, a corruption of Open, says me!.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Phrase

open sesame

1. open up (especially referring to doors)

Translations

open up

• Arabic: اِفْتَح يَا سِمْسِم (iftaḥ yā simsim)
• Azerbaijani: simsim, açıl
• Catalan: obre't sèsam
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 芝麻開門／芝麻开门 (zi¹ maa⁴ hoi¹ mun⁴)

  Mandarin: 芝麻開門／芝麻开门 (zhīma kāimén)

• Czech: sezame, otevři se
• Danish: sesam, luk dig op
• Estonian: seesam avane
• Finnish: seesam aukene
• French: Sésame, ouvre-toi (fr)
• German: Sesam, öffne dich
• Hungarian: szezám, tárulj
• Italian: apriti sesamo
• Japanese: 開け胡麻, 開けゴマ (ひらけごま, hirake goma)
• Macedonian: отво́ри се, се́заме (otvóri se, sézame)
• Persian: سسمی باز شو (sesemi bâz šov)
• Polish: Sezamie, otwórz się m
• Portuguese: abre-te sésamo
• Russian: сеза́м, откро́йся (sezám, otkrójsja), симси́м, откро́йся (simsím, otkrójsja)
• Spanish: ábrete sésamo
• Swedish: sesam, öppna dig!
• Turkish: açıl susam, açıl susam açıl

Noun

open sesame (plural open sesames)

1. Any successful means of achieving a result, especially means that are magical or technical, or otherwise beyond the understanding of most people.
   • 1899, William Wallace Cook, “Aquastor”, in Overland Monthly‎^[1], page 15:

     "The blue topaz was bought by me, from the chieftain of the tribe to which Quacal belongs. It is an ‘open sesame’ to his favor."

   • 1905, John Ruskin, The Works of John Ruskin, page lv:

     He who can read a true book aright has an open sesame to audiences with the great and wise of all time.

   • 1963, William J. Palmer, Trial Tactics in California, page 57:

     Relevancy not always an open sesame having in mind the over-all authority and discretion of the trial judge.

   • 2001 September 24, Gareth McLean, “Sympathy for a devil”, in The Guardian:

     When Mussolini was a young chap, he dabbled with socialism, imagining it to be an open sesame to a better society.

Translations

successful means of achieving a result

• Finnish: taikasana (fi), (archaic) seesam
• French: sésame (fr) m
• Italian: chiave di volta f
• Turkish: açıl susam açıl (also in imperative as a deverbal noun)