petit juif
French
editEtymology
editFrom 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
editNoun
editpetit juif m (plural petits juifs)