From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Short for out of the blue sky , likening an unexpected event to lightning or rain coming suddenly from a cloudless sky.
Prepositional phrase [ edit ] out of the blue
( idiomatic ) Unexpectedly ; without warning or preparation .
After I hadn’t heard from her in six months, she called me out of the blue to meet for lunch.
I really can't understand how something like this could simply pop up out of the blue .
2004 A Stain Upon the Sea: West Coast Salmon Farming , →ISBN 210 :I deckhanded on a fish boat for four years and knew no fisherman likes to be called out of the blue and have his numbers demanded!
2011 January 19, Jonathan Stevenson, “Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal”, in BBC [1] Just as it appeared Arsenal had taken the sting out of the tie, Johnson produced a moment of outrageous quality, thundering a bullet of a left foot shot out of the blue and into the top left-hand corner of Wojciech Szczesny's net with the Pole grasping at thin air.
unexpectedly
Afrikaans: uit die bloute
Arabic: فَجْأَةً ( fajʔatan ) , عَلَى حِينِ غِرَّةٍ ( ʕalā ḥīni ḡirratin ) , عَلَى حِينِ غَفْلَةٍ ( ʕalā ḥīni ḡaflatin )
Chinese:
Mandarin: 出其不意 (zh) ( chūqíbùyì ) , 出乎意料 (zh) ( chūhūyìliào )
Czech: zčistajasna
Danish: ud af det blå
Dutch: uit het niets zomaar (nl)
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: yllättäen (fi) , kuin salama kirkkaalta taivaalta
French: comme un cheveu sur la soupe (fr) ( like a hair in the soup ) , comme un chien dans un jeu de quilles (fr) ( like a dog in a bowling game ) , de nulle part (fr)
German: (wie) aus heiterem Himmel (wie) aus blauem Himmel (wie) aus dem Nichts aus dem Blauen heraus
Hindi: please add this translation if you can
Hungarian: a semmiből hirtelen (hu) , váratlanul (hu) , meglepetésszerűen (hu)
Icelandic: ( like thunder from a clear sky ) eins og þruma úr heiðskíru lofti ( like the devil from the sheep's leg ) eins og skrattinn úr sauðaleggnum ( as a hard blow ) sem reiðarslag ( like thunder from a blue sky ) eins og þruma úr heiðríkju öllum að óvörum
Italian: inaspettatamente (it) , di punto in bianco (it) ( all of a sudden ) , come un fulmine a ciel sereno ( like a thunder in a clear sky ) , dal nulla
Japanese: 藪から棒 出し抜け (ja)
Korean: 갑자기 (ko) ( gapjagi )
Latin: inexspectate
Lithuanian: lyg perkūnas iš giedro dangaus ( like a thunder in the clear sky )
Māori: matawhawhati whāia (nei) ka/kua
Norwegian: ut av det blå som lyn fra klar himmel (no)
Polish: jak grom z jasnego nieba (pl) , ni stąd, ni zowąd
Portuguese: do nada (pt) ( out of nowhere ) , da cartola ( out of the top hat ) , à toa (pt)
Romanian: din senin
Russian: как гром среди ясного неба ( like a thunder in the clear sky ) , как снег на голову ( like snow onto the head )
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ка̏о гро̑м из ве̏дра не̏ба ( like a thunder from clear skies )
Latin: kȁo grȏm iz vȅdra nȅba
Spanish: de la nada de repente (es) , de sopetón (es) , como caído de las nubes ( adverb )
Swedish: som en blixt från klar himmel (sv) ( like a lightning bolt out of a clear sky )
Tamil: please add this translation if you can
Telugu: please add this translation if you can
Ukrainian: як сніг на голову (uk) ( jak snih na holovu ) , як грім з я́сного не́ба ( jak hrim z jásnoho néba ) , як грім се́ред я́сного не́ба ( jak hrim séred jásnoho néba )
Vietnamese: đang không
