crème de la crème

See also: creme de la creme and Crème de la Crème

English

Alternative forms

• creme de la creme

Etymology

Borrowed from French crème de la crème (literally “cream of the cream”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (UK):

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Noun

crème de la crème (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic, singular only) Best of the best; something superlative; the very best.

   Synonyms: best of the best, cream of the crop, pick of the crop

   To be an astronaut you must be the crème de la crème.

   • 1961, Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, page 14:

     ‘Plainly,’ said Miss Brodie, ‘you were not listening to me. If only you small girls would listen to me I would make of you the crème de la crème.’

   • 2024 October 8, Megan Uy, Tarah-Lynn Saint-Elien, “65+ Fall Prime Day Fashion Deals Your Closet Is Begging You to Shop”, in Cosmopolitan‎^[1]:

     Whether you've been on the hunt for a pair of quality overalls or you just wanna cosplay as Mrs. Robert Rausch (the ‘Love Island’ girlies know), these ones from Dickies are the crème de la crème.

   • 2025 April 26, Caroline Roux, “The age of adaption”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC:

     He studied engineering and architecture at the Politecnico di Torino and the fancy Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées—one of those Paris institutions for the crème de la crème de la crème^[sic].

Translations

best of the best

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Danish: creme de la creme c
• Dutch: crème de la crème (nl)
• Finnish: kerma (fi), parhaimmisto (fi)
• French: crème de la crème (fr) f, top du top (fr) m, fin du fin (fr) m, fine fleur (fr) f, nec plus ultra (fr) m
• German: Crème de la Crème (de) f
• Indonesian: crème de la crème
• Norwegian: crème de la crème, kremen av kremen, der oppe
• Polish: śmietanka (pl) f
• Portuguese: nata da sociedade f
• Spanish: lo mejor de lo mejor, flor y nata (es)
• Swedish: gräddan (only in definite form)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French crème de la crème.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /krɛm də laː krɛm/

Noun

crème de la crème f (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. (idiomatic) crème de la crème

   Synonyms: neusje van de zalm, je van het

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʁɛm də la kʁɛm/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

crème de la crème f (uncountable)

1. crème de la crème (the best of something)

   Synonym: fine fleur

Descendants

• → Danish: creme de la creme, crème de la crème
• → Dutch: crème de la crème
• → English: crème de la crème, creme de la creme
• → German: Crème de la Crème
• → Norwegian: crème de la crème