to break a leg
15
6.3
- idiom
- /breɪk ə lɛg/
- Informal
:
mucha mierda (teatro, informal)
- I wish you the best of luck in your audition, so break a leg!
- say, break a leg
- tell her to break a leg
- good luck and break a leg
Examples
-
I just wanted to say break a leg.
-
Break a leg, sweetie.
-
But I will say break a leg.
-
We were just coming to say good luck and, um, - break a leg.
-
"Break a leg, buddy," she said.
Fiction book (1996) -
"Break a leg," I said.
Fiction book (1996) -
Hey, break a leg with that play, LC.
Blog text (10) -
So let's meet back here at three o'clock on Saturday, and let's break a leg!
-
"Break a leg," said Sally cheerfully, seeing her out.
Fiction book (1995) -
Break a leg.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A word performers say to wish good luck before a show
To wish someone good luck when the result depends on chance
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
break + a + leg
The meaning 'to wish someone good luck' is not derivable from the literal senses of 'break' and 'leg' — a learner who knows the words would likely interpret it literally or be confused. This is a conventional theatrical idiom with a cultural origin and no transparent compositional logic, so its meaning is unpredictable for typical B1 learners.
Etymology
The idiom break a leg comes from the theater. One popular story says actors thought saying 'good luck' would bring bad luck, so they said the opposite—break a leg—to wish someone a great performance, which is why it means 'good luck'.