piece of cake

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiːsə(v)ˈkeɪk/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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Noun

piece of cake (plural pieces of cake)

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

   Synonyms: breeze, cakewalk, child's play, cinch, doddle, duck soup, walk in the park, walkover; see also Thesaurus:easy thing

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

Related terms

• easy as pie

Translations

simple or easy job

• Arabic: بَسِيطَة‎ f (basīṭa), لُقْمَة سَائِغَة‎ f (luqma(t) sāʾiḡa)
• Armenian: խաղ ու պար (hy) (xał u par)
• Catalan: bufar i fer ampolles (literally “blowing and bottlemaking”)
• 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, brnkačka f
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: käkitegu
• Finnish: helppo nakki (fi)
• French: jeu d'enfant (fr) (literally “child's play”)
• German: Kinderspiel (de) n (literally “child's play”), Pillepalle (de) f, Zuckerschlecken n
• Hebrew: משחק ילדים‎ (he) (miskhak yeladim, literally “child's play”)
• Hungarian: gyerekjáték (hu)
• Icelandic: ekkert mál (is), barnaleikur (is)
• Italian: gioco da ragazzi (literally “child's play”), una cosa da niente, come bere un bicchier d'acqua (literally “like drinking a glass of water”), gioco da bambini (literally “child's play”)
• Japanese: 朝飯前 (ja) (あさめしまえ, asameshimae)

• Korean: 누워서 떡 먹기 (ko) (nuwoseo tteok meokgi)
• Norwegian: barnemat (no)
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: bułka z masłem (pl) (literally “butter bun”)
• Portuguese: ser moleza, mamão com açúcar
• Romanian: floare la ureche
• Russian: про́ще пареной репы (ru) (próšče parenoj repy, literally “simpler than stew turnip”), раз плю́нуть (ru) (raz pljúnutʹ, literally “just to spit once”), как два пальца обоссать (ru) (kak dva palʹca obossatʹ, literally “like to piss onto two fingers”)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ма̏чјӣ ка̏шаљ

  Roman: mȁčjī kȁšalj (sh)

• Slovak: bufet m
• Spanish: coser y cantar (literally “sewing and singing”), bicoca (es) f (literally “bargain”), pan comido (es) (literally “bread eaten”), (Latin America) papita pal loro (literally “chips for the parrot”)
• Swedish: barnlek (sv) c
• Turkish: çocuk oyuncağı (tr) (literally “child's toy”)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can