piece of cake

Contents

English

Etymology

Attested since 1936, originally in American English. Possibly from cakewalk, or the notion of facility that derives from many cakes having agreeable tastes, and hence being ‘easy’ to consume.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiːsə(v)ˈkeɪk/

Noun

piece of cake (plural pieces of cake)

1. Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see piece,‎ cake.
2. (idiomatic) A job, task or other activity that is pleasant – or, by extension, easy or simple.

   Sure, no problem. It'll be a piece of cake.

Synonyms

• (an activity that is easy): breeze, cakewalk, child's play, cinch, doddle, duck soup, walk in the park, walkover
• See also Thesaurus:easy thing

Translations

simple or easy job

• Arabic: بسيطَة‎‎ f, لقمَة سائغَة‎‎ f
• Armenian: խաղ ու պար (hy) (xał u par)
• Catalan: bufar i fer ampolles
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 非常容易的事 (fēicháng róngyì de shì), 小菜一碟 (zh) (xiǎocàiyīdié), 易如反掌 (zh) (yìrúfǎnzhǎng)

• Czech: hračka (cs) f
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: käkitegu
• Finnish: helppo nakki (fi)
• French: du gâteau (fr)
• German: Kinderspiel (de) n, Pillepalle (de) f
• Hebrew: משחק ילדים‎‎ (he) (miskhak yeladim (lit., child's play))
• Hungarian: gyerekjáték (hu)
• Icelandic: ekkert mál (is), barnaleikur (is)
• Italian: gioco da ragazzi, una cosa da niente
• Japanese: 朝飯前 (ja) (あさめしまえ, asameshimae)

• Korean: 누워서 떡 먹기 (ko) (nuwoseo tteog meokki)
• Norwegian: barnemat (no)
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: bułka z masłem (pl)
• Portuguese: to be a piece of cake: ser moleza
• Romanian: floare la ureche
• Russian: про́ще пареной репы (ru) (próšče parenoj repy) (lit., "simpler than stew turnip"), раз плю́нуть (ru) (raz pljúnutʹ) (lit., "just to spit once"), как два пальца обоссать (ru) (kak dva palʹca obossatʹ) (lit., "like to piss onto two fingers")
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ма̏чјӣ ка̏шаљ

  Roman: mȁčjī kȁšalj (sh)

• Slovak: bufet m
• Spanish: coser y cantar, bicoca (es) f, pan comido (es), papita pal loro
• Swedish: barnlek (sv) c
• Turkish: (lit. child's toy) çocuk oyuncağı (tr)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

References