y avoir anguille sous roche
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French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Literally, “there is an eel hidden beneath a rock”. Compare also Latin latet anguis in herbā (whence English snake in the grass), as well as Dutch addertje onder het gras.
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
- (impersonal, figuratively) for there to be something fishy and suspicious going on, for there to be something in the wind, in the offing
- il y a anguille sous roche ― I smell a rat; something is afoot.
Further reading[edit]
- "y avoir anguille sous roche", Dictionnaire des francophones [1]
- "il y a anguille sous roche", Les nouvelles expressions de monsieur dictionnaire, Jacques Mercier, 2017, p.12