sacr bleu
- idiom
- /sækr blɜː/
- Archaic
:
¡santo cielo!
- When she saw the mess, she exclaimed, 'Sacr bleu! What happened here?'
Examples
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The chef exclaimed 'sacr bleu!' as the sauce boiled over the pan.
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When he saw the score, he could only mutter, 'sacr bleu!'
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Sacr bleu! I forgot my passport at home!
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Oh la la! Sacr bleu! What a surprise!
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Sacr bleu! I forgot my passport at home!
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The chef exclaimed 'sacr bleu!' as the sauce boiled over the pan.
-
When she saw the mess, she exclaimed, 'sacr bleu! What happened here?'
Synonyms
8
9.9
An old-fashioned shout showing surprise, anger, or strong feeling
4
9.5
A short word people say when they are surprised or shocked
1
9.9
An old word people say to show surprise or strong feeling
1
9.9
An old Irish word said to show surprise or strong feeling
1
9.9
To say an old-fashioned rude word to show surprise or anger
A phrase that sounds French used to show surprise, often jokingly
A short phrase people say to show surprise at something amazing
To say or write a short exclamation to show surprise
A loud informal shout that shows surprise, shock, or strong annoyance
Shout loudly because you are surprised or shocked
To say 'bejeebus' loudly when you are surprised or annoyed
An old Irish word said to show surprise or strong feeling
An old word people say to show surprise or strong feeling
A short old Irish phrase people say to show surprise or strong feeling
Said when you are a little angry, annoyed, or surprised
An old word people say to show surprise, anger, or shock
A short sharp sound someone makes to show surprise
A short silly sound used to show mild surprise or embarrassment
Surface Forms
Morphology
sacr + bleu
This is a borrowed, idiomatic French exclamation (normally spelled 'sacré bleu') whose literal constituents ('sacré' = sacred, 'bleu' = blue) do not convey the idiomatic sense of surprise or shock; knowing the literal words does not let a learner predict the interjectional meaning. The phrase functions as a conventionalized expletive/stereotyped imitation rather than a compositional phrase, so it is opaque to B1 learners.
Etymology
Sacr bleu comes from an old French way to avoid saying sacré Dieu. People changed the word for 'God' to bleu so the saying was softer, and English speakers later used sacr bleu to show surprise or to sound like a French person.