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):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

piece of cake (plural pieces of cake)

1. (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.

   • 2014, Dominique Frost, In the Blaze of His Hungers, →ISBN:

     Dennis's enthusiasm was difficult for Ryan to manage, but Javier's angsty Victorian-era man-pain is a piece of cake.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see piece,‎ cake.

Related terms

• easy as pie

Translations

simple or easy job

• Arabic: بَسِيطَة f (basīṭa), لُقْمَة سَائِغَة f (luqma(t) sāʔiḡa)
• Armenian: խաղ ու պար (hy) (xaġ u par)
• Catalan: bufar i fer ampolles (ca) (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), 小事一樁 / 小事一桩 (xiǎoshì-yīzhuāng)

• Czech: hračka (cs) f, brnkačka (cs) f
• Danish: barnemad (da) c, barneleg c
• Dutch: eitje (nl) n, fluitje van een cent n, makkie (nl) n
• Estonian: käkitegu
• Finnish: helppo nakki (fi), lastenleikki (fi)
• French: jeu d'enfant (fr) (literally “child's play”), nougat (fr) m
• German: Kinderspiel (de) n (literally “child's play”), Pillepalle (de) f, Zuckerschlecken n, Spaziergang (de) m
• Hebrew: משחק ילדים (he) (miskhak yeladim, literally “child's play”)
• Hungarian: gyerekjáték (hu)
• Icelandic: ekkert mál (is), barnaleikur (is)
• Italian: gioco da ragazzi m (literally “child's play”), cosa da niente f (literally “thing of nothing”), come bere un bicchier d'acqua (literally “like drinking a glass of water”), gioco da bambini m (literally “child's play”)
• Japanese: 朝飯前 (ja) (あさめしまえ, asameshimae, literally “before breakfast”), お茶の子 (ja) (おちゃのこ, o-cha-no ko)
• Korean: 누워서 떡 먹기 (ko) (nuwoseo tteok meokgi, literally “eating rice cakes while lying down”), 껌 (ko) (kkeom)
• Malay: kacang (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: barnemat (no) m

  Nynorsk: barnemat m

• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: bułka z masłem (pl) (literally “butter bun”)
• Portuguese: moleza (pt) (Brazil), mamão com açúcar (literally “papaya with sugar”), mel na chupeta (pt) (literally “honey on the pacifier”), canja (pt)
• Romanian: floare la ureche (literally “flower at the ear”)
• Russian: про́ще пареной репы (ru) (próšče parenoj repy, literally “simpler than stew turnip”), раз плю́нуть (ru) (raz pljúnutʹ, literally “just to spit once”) (colloquial), как два пальца обоссать (ru) (kak dva palʹca obossatʹ, literally “like to piss onto two fingers”) (vulgar)
• 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”), papita para el loro (literally “chips for the parrot”), papa (es) f, huevo (es) (adjective), papaya (es) (adjective), güira (es) f, papayita (es) (adjective)
• Swedish: baggis (sv) c, barnlek (sv) c
• Turkish: çocuk oyuncağı (tr) (literally “child's toy”), çantada keklik (tr)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can