Phraseologism that has exact meaning. Idioms

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. It is not for nothing that the Russian language is considered “great and powerful”.

It contains not only words with which you can describe the reality of what is happening, but also words whose meaning does not correspond to the words used in them.

Such phrases (these are phraseological units) cannot be understood “head-on” (literally), because the words used in them sometimes create a completely ridiculous picture. For example, “making a molehill out of a molehill,” “sit in a puddle,” “lead by the nose,” “like water off a duck’s back,” etc. They are used only figuratively and by this.

What is it (with examples)

Phraseologisms are set expressions(everyday used in this form), one of the features of which is that they are almost impossible to translate into other languages. And if you do it verbatim, you get real gobbledygook.

For example, how do you translate the phrases to a foreigner:

With a gulkin nose
Where the eyes look.
Shot sparrow.

At the same time, we, as native speakers of Russian, will immediately understand what we are talking about.

“With a gulkin’s nose” - not enough, just a little bit.
“Where the eyes look” - directly, without a specific goal.
“Shooted Sparrow” is experienced in some matters.

These are some examples of phraseological units. Here is the definition of this concept in textbooks:

“A phraseological unit is an expression that is well-established in structure and composition, which used figuratively and consists of two or more words."

Signs of phraseological units

Phraseologism is quite easy to recognize. These phrases have their own distinctive features:

They contain two or more words;
Have stable compound;
Have portable meaning;
Have historical roots;
Are united member of the proposal.

Now let’s take a closer look at each of these distinctive criteria of phraseological units.

These are several words that are one part of a sentence

There are no one-word phraseological units at all. Most often they consist of just two words, but there are many examples of longer phrases.

Here examples of such phrases with an explanation of their meaning:

“He ate the dog” - experienced, has done something more than once.
“You can’t spill water” - very friendly.
“Wait for the weather by the sea” - do nothing and hope that everything will be resolved by itself.
“Seven Fridays a week” - constantly change your plans or decisions.
“Struggle like a fish against ice” - you do something, but it doesn’t give results.
“Well, you’ve made a mess” - you did something that provoked a whole chain of events.

When parsing a sentence, phraseological units are not divided into parts. For example, the phrase “worked until we sweated” is a single predicate. Just like “counting crows” or “washing your hands.”

Phraseologisms are stable phrases in a figurative sense

Such phrases cannot be distorted, adding or removing individual words from them. AND cannot be replaced one word to another. In this way, they resemble a “house of cards” that will fall apart if one card is pulled out of it.

By the way, "House of cards" also an example of a phraseological unit, it is used when they want to say that “something broke very easily or is about to break”.

For example:

“Between heaven and earth” means being in limbo, not knowing what to do.

And in this phrase it is impossible to replace “sky” with, for example, “clouds”, or “earth” with “field”. The result will be a completely different expression than others people won't understand.

More examples of stable phraseological units with an explanation of their meaning:

“To muddy the waters” means to come up with something strange; it is not good to influence others.
“Sloppy” - doing something poorly.
“Roll up your sleeves” - work well and quickly.
“Counting crows” means being distracted, inattentive.
“Staying with your nose” means being deceived.
“Come to your senses” - change your behavior or attitude towards something.

These phrases always have a figurative meaning

As you may have already noticed, all phraseological units have a figurative meaning. That is why they simply cannot be translated into another language.

For example, try translating the phrase into English "disservice". It will sound like “bear service,” and any foreigner will literally understand that “a specific bear provides some kind of service,” and will most likely decide that we are talking about a trained bear.

But we understand perfectly well this phraseological unit, which means “to help in such a way that it became even worse”.

The same can be said about other expressions:

“Grated Kalach” is a man with experience and who cannot be deceived.
“On the topic of the day” is something relevant that is currently attracting a lot of attention.
“I got into a galosh” - I did something absurd, I made a mistake.
“Losing your head” means doing unreasonable things.
“Wash the bones” - discuss someone behind his back.

History of the origin of phraseological units

Some philologists argue that all phraseological units have some kind of historical roots. It’s just that not everything managed to survive before us. But there are phrases about which we know exactly where they came from.

For example, the expression "beat the buck", which means "To do nothing". In the old days, small wooden blocks were called baklushi, from which spoons were most often made. It was very easy to make blanks; this was trusted to the most inept apprentices. And everyone around believed that they weren’t really working.

Or phraseological unit "like water off a duck's back", meaning that “everything is forgiven to a person.” This phrase was created by nature itself. Not only a goose, but also any bird, loses water really quickly, since their feathers have a thin layer of fat.

And here is the expression "Trishkin caftan" is not as widely known, although it means “an unsuccessful attempt to solve some problem that only leads to more problems.” The phrase appeared thanks to Krylov's fable:

Trishka’s caftan was torn at the elbows.
Why take so long to think here? He took up the needle:
I cut off the sleeves by a quarter -
And he paid in elbow grease. The caftan is ready again;
My arms became only a quarter bare.
But what about this sadness?

And here is the phraseological unit "Monomakh's hat", which means "too much responsibility", gave us Pushkin in his drama "Boris Godunov".

Examples of phraseological units and their meaning

And this is not the only example when common expressions appear in the Russian language thanks to literature. For example, a lot came to us from ancient myths and epics, and even from the Bible.

Brief summary

In conclusion, I will say that phraseological units are found in any language in the world. But so many catchphrases, as in Russian, nowhere else.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

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Set expressions in Russian

A group of stable expressions in the Russian language consists of phraseological units - these are phrases that are an integral linguistic unit and cannot be divided. Phraseologism cannot be translated and interpreted literally. It is not the meaning of each word that is important, but the meaning of their totality.

There are phraseological units in almost every language. For foreigners learning Russian, phraseological combinations are the most difficult topic because their pronunciation and meaning have to be memorized.

Phraseologisms can be divided into 4 main groups:

phraseological adhesions (they include idioms of the Russian language);
phraseological unities;
phraseological combinations;
phraseological expressions.

Phraseological adhesions

Phraseological combinations are called idioms. An idiom is a phrase whose meaning depends entirely on the totality of the words it contains. The most important thing is that words outside the idiom are not used in modern Russian. The phraseological unit "beat the buck" is an idiom. The examples in Russian are very interesting. Linguists never stop studying them. So, for example, the idiom “to be lazy” means “to be lazy, to do nothing.” However, what are baklushi? Backwoods used to be called wooden logs. Stabbing, or “beating” them, was considered an easy job, performed by old people or children. Now this expression is used in the sense of “doing empty business.”

The origin of idioms is carefully studied by philologists. An idiom that is not fully understood in terms of meaning can still be encountered. Examples of the most common idioms in Russian:

Upside down. Previously, there was a verb “to move” (to walk). It turns out that the phraseological unit means “upside down”.

Get into trouble. Nowadays the word “binding” is associated with books or magazines, but previously it was called... fish traps made from branches! Nowadays the phraseological unit means “getting into an awkward, difficult situation.”
Get lost in confusion. This idiom has caused a lot of controversy. This expression means "to get lost, confused." There is a hypothesis that the phrase is associated with Mount Pantelik in Greece. Marble was mined in the mountain, but in the cave of the mountain there were many passages that resembled a labyrinth. The word has undergone phonetic transformations.

Phraseological unities, combinations, expressions

Phraseological unity is a type of phraseological combinations in which each word individually has one semantics, but taken together takes on a completely different meaning. For example, the phraseological unit “come to a dead end”: the word come means “to get somewhere”, a dead end means “a place with no exit.” But the combination itself means “to find yourself in a hopeless situation, a difficult situation that has no solutions.”

Within the group of unities, several subgroups can be distinguished. These include stable comparisons (“the cow licked her tongue”), epithets with elements of metaphor (“iron grip”). One can also distinguish unities with the meaning of hyperbole (exaggeration) - “golden mountains”, with the meaning of litotes (understatement) - “the size of a poppy seed”.

There are also phraseological units that were borrowed from puns. A pun is a literary device based on a combination of words that are opposite in meaning or similar in sound.

If an idiom is a phrase whose words are not used separately, then phraseological combinations include words with both free and associated meanings. Unlike the above varieties of phraseological units, combinations are divisible. The words included in them can be individually replaced with synonyms or antonyms. For example, in the combination “burn with shame,” the word “shame” can be replaced with other words. It will turn out to burn from hatred, from love, from jealousy, from impatience, etc.

This phenomenon in Russian is called collocation. You can find a huge number of examples of collocation in the Russian language. The expression “to impose conditions” means “to leave no choice for someone,” but the word “to set” without this context has a different meaning.

Set expressions constitute categories of words that have their own nominative meaning. The group of phraseological expressions includes proverbs, catchphrases, sayings, and aphorisms. If an idiom is an indivisible unit, then expressions can be divided. Examples of phraseological expressions: “all the best”, “see you soon”. This group includes the phrases “water off a duck’s back”, “black sheep”, “scapegoat”.

Origin of phraseological units (idioms)

The modern Russian language took a long time to form and has a rich history. If we classify idioms by origin, then they can be divided into:

Originally Russian turns. They arose from forms of the Old Russian language through a free combination of words.
Borrowed idioms that came into the Russian language from foreign words.

The second group should include phraseological tracings and phrases that came from the Old Church Slavonic language (“crown of thorns”). It is worth noting that native Russian idioms came not only from the Old Russian language - there are a lot of original literary statements that have become phraseological units. For example, the expression “living corpse”, which we have been using since the time of A.P. Chekhov.

Examples of native Russian idioms

One of the most famous idioms is “to beat the crap.” The idiom “shabby look” is interesting. Its history is as follows: during the time of Peter I, one of the weaving factories belonged to a man with the surname Zatrapeznikov. After he received authority to manage the factory, the quality of the fabric declined. Now this expression characterizes a sloppy person.

“Find out the ins and outs,” which means finding out everything about a person’s secrets, his secrets. The phraseological unit itself has a terrible history. People used to be tortured in prisons, and one of the most sophisticated forms of torture was to force nails or needles under a person's fingernails. The man was giving away secrets.

The phrase "from the red line" now means "to write from the beginning of the line." Previously, each line began with a letter or word written in red ink.

The semantic boundaries between individual categories of phraseological units are very thin. Some expressions can be classified as both combinations and unities. The easiest one to stand out is the idiom. This is a special type of phraseological units that are distinguished by their external design and the history of words going back into the past.

Idioms are stable expressions (phrases), the meaning of which is not determined by the meaning of the individual words included in it. For example, To let the cat out of the bag. - Let it slip.

Learning idioms is not only useful, but also very exciting - nothing reflects the mentality of native speakers of the target language like idioms. In addition, it will help to understand live speech and unadapted literature.

Idioms - set expressions

Idioms cannot be translated literally, since they are indivisible lexical units that can be translated either by meaning or by the corresponding equivalent in the target language. Idioms reflect the realities of language and even history. So, for example, the idiom "to work carelessly" This is due to the fact that in ancient times Russian clothing had long sleeves, that is, it was impossible to work well in this condition. And, in turn, some English idioms will be incomprehensible to a Russian person. For example, "to pull someone's leg" does not mean “to pull someone’s leg,” but “to make fun of, fool one’s head.” This is also connected with history. The origin of this expression dates back to the 18th century, when city streets were very dirty, and the British “as a joke” would place a stick with a hook under the feet of the object of such simple humor.

The meaning of some idioms is easy to understand, since they are similar to Russian

I can't believe my ears. - I don't believe my ears. That is, I don’t believe what I hear.

Many idioms have a similar meaning, but are embodied in the language differently; other images and associations are used, connected by the cultural characteristics of different countries. For example, A carrot and stick- literally this combination is translated “carrot and stick”, that is, the method of encouragement is carrots, and the method of punishment is a stick. In our language, this idiom sounds like “the carrot and stick method.” In this case, punishment comes first - the stick, and then reward - the carrot.

Like two peas in a pod. - Like two peas in a pod, that is, very similar. Our language also has a similar idiom, but the comparison is between two drops of water - "like two peas in a pod" .

Such Idioms are the biggest challenge for an inexperienced translator, since with a literal translation the meaning will simply be lost.

There are idioms whose meaning is simply difficult to guess

For example:

The bee's knees - top grade

All thumbs - clumsy. (He spilt his coffee again, he’s all thumbs - that is, literally, all the fingers on the hand are thumbs).

Also ran - loser. (The idiom came from horse racing - literally - she also ran, but did not receive a prize).

An arm and a leg - a huge amount of money. (That car cost him an arm and a leg.)

Make a pig's ear - doing something very badly.

Let's highlight the main groups of idioms

Idioms based on animal comparisons

Pigs might fly - What doesn’t happen in the world!

Will a duck swim! - Still would!

To flog a dead horse - Waste your energy.

Straight from the horse’s mouth - From the horse’s mouth.

A big fish in a small pond - An important bump out of the blue (local scale).

There isn’t enough space to swing a cat - The apple has nowhere to fall.

To make a monkey out of someone - To make a fool out of someone.

Set expressions related to food

A bad egg - Scoundrel.

To go bananas - Go crazy.

To spill the beans - Give away a secret.

To be full of beans - To be very energetic.

It’s a hot potato - This is a touchy subject.

A second bite of a cherry - Second attempt.

It’s as good as a chocolate teapot - it’s as good as a goat’s milk.

Idioms related to body parts

To get cold feet - To become faint-hearted, to drift, to get scared.

To be up in arms - Fully armed, be ready to fight.

He’s twisting my arm - He presses on me.

To keep an eye on something - Don’t take your eyes off something.

I'd give my right arm to do it! - I would give anything to do this.

To have eyes on the back of one’s head - To have eyes on the back of the head.

An old head on young shoulders - To be wise beyond your years.

To have someone’s head in the clouds - To soar in the clouds.

To let someone’s hair down - Relax, behave relaxed.

Idioms based on associations with flowers

It’s like a red rag for a bull - It’s like a red rag for a bull.

A phraseological unit, or a stable, catchphrase is a figurative, apt phrase; a statement that previously came into general use. These expressions are called winged because they spread quickly.

The history of the appearance of phraseological units

Among the many different set expressions, some have their own author, some were created among the people, many denote specific moments in history or the use of specific professional skills.

Based on the words they contain, set expressions can be figuratively divided into two groups - direct and figurative. Often, by looking at the expression, you can understand what its essence is. For example, the expression “keep your mouth shut” explains itself. We immediately understand that we are talking about silence.

But the expression “spinning like a squirrel in a wheel” means hard work, a constant load.

If you give the example of the phrase “pulling chestnuts out of the fire,” then it is not entirely clear what a person is talking about when using this expression. It came to us from the work of La Fontaine and means that a person performs dangerous and difficult work, and another uses the results; a person does the work instead of someone else.

Many phraseological units came into our speech from certain moments in history. For example, from the 18th century the phrase “it was near Poltava” came to us, because at that time a battle actually took place between the Russians and the Swedes near Poltava.

Professional phraseological units include the medical expressions “wipe into powder” or “a teaspoon in an hour.”

Groups of phraseological units

All phraseological units known to us are divided into several large groups according to their genesis.

The first group includes stable expressions that entered the structure of the Russian language from Old Church Slavonic - common Slavic (proto-Slavic), various calques, as well as phrases borrowed from other languages.

The second group should include phraseological units that we most often use today. This is a group of native Russian phraseological units. These are various phrases from the professional vocabulary of many people, as well as from works of art.

The third group includes phraseological units that arose during the emergence of independent East Slavic languages. All stable expressions of this group arose from arbitrary combinations of words and were created according to the rules of the Russian language. It is worth noting that this group will be the largest in composition.

Common Slavic phraseological units

Common Slavic phraseological units are mainly quotations from the books of Holy Scripture, which are archaic in nature and often include outdated words (archaisms). Such expressions are called biblicalisms.

Phraseological phrases of this nature include: “slaughter of infants”, “wash your hands”, “dark place”, “regardless of faces”, “seek and ye shall find”, “crown of thorns”, “their name is legion”.

As has already been indicated, many biblical words include outdated words that are almost never used today. These will be such stable expressions as “coming to bed”, “a parable of the town”, “pandemonium of Babylon”, “to cherish like the apple of your eye”, “fiend of hell”, “not of this world”, “like them” and others . We use all these phraseological units quite widely, but, as a rule, individual archaisms are no longer used in free form.

Actually Russian set expressions

Original Russian expressions are also divided according to their meaning into several groups.

The first group includes those that came from colloquial speech and are often used in everyday life: “to be born in a shirt”, “patience and work will grind everything”, “for lack of fish and cancer fish”, “to speak with teeth”, “miracles in a sieve” , “losing your head”, “at least a stake on your mother’s head”, “fair maiden” and many others.

The second group of native Russian phraseological units includes expressions from artistic and scientific works and literature. This group, in turn, can also be divided into several subgroups:

1) catchphrases and expressions from journalism and literature: “I didn’t even notice the elephant” (I. A. Krylov), “the legend is fresh, but hard to believe,” “with feeling, with sense, with arrangement” (A . S. Griboedov), “a big ship means a long voyage” (N.V. Gogol), “we all learned little by little, something and somehow” (A.S. Pushkin), “no matter what happens” (A.P. Chekhov), “less is better” (V.I. Lenin and so on;

2) various phrases taken from scientific terminology: “center of gravity”, “bring to a common denominator”, “go downhill”, “bring to white heat”.

East Slavic set expressions and tracing papers

The group of East Slavic phraseological units includes those that came to us from other languages and were translated in parts. Most cripples in our language can be completely unnoticeable, that is, the foreign language in them is not felt.

Many phrases come to us directly from the English language. Many set expressions in English coincide in meaning and translation, and there are also those that already have their analogues in Russian.

For example, phraseological units that will have a similar meaning include the following: a sore subject (“sore subject”), act the fool (“play the fool”), to look for a needle in a haystack (“look for a needle in a haystack”) hay”), a fine gesture (“beautiful gesture”). All these set expressions are translated literally and directly.

But there are also those that are analogous in meaning, but sound completely different:

To pull the devil by the tail (from English “to pull the devil by the tail”) - “to fight like a fish on ice”;

A round peg in a square hole (from English “round peg in a square hole”) - “to be out of place”;

That’s the heart of the matter (from English “in this heart of the matter”) - “that’s where the dog is buried”;

It rains cats and dogs (from English “it will rain with cats and dogs”) - “it pours like buckets”;

Smell hell (from English “smell the smell of hell”) - “sip grief.”

Set expressions in English are as common today as in Russian. Phraseological units are an integral part of speech that is used by everyone, even children. There are so many such phrases that sometimes we don’t even think about using them.

Phraseology is a branch of the science of language that studies stable combinations of words. Phraseologism is a stable combination of words, or a stable expression. Used to name objects, signs, actions. It is an expression that arose once, became popular and became entrenched in people's speech. The expression is endowed with imagery and may have a figurative meaning. Over time, an expression can take on a broad meaning in everyday life, partially including the original meaning or completely excluding it.

The phraseological unit as a whole has lexical meaning. The words included in a phraseological unit individually do not convey the meaning of the entire expression. Phraseologisms can be synonymous (at the end of the world, where the raven did not bring bones) and antonymous (raise to heaven - trample into the dirt). A phraseological unit in a sentence is one member of the sentence. Phraseologisms reflect a person and his activities: work (golden hands, playing the fool), relationships in society (bosom friend, putting a spoke in the wheels), personal qualities (turning up his nose, sour face), etc. Phraseologisms make statements expressive and create imagery. Set expressions are used in works of art, journalism, and everyday speech. Set expressions are also called idioms. There are many idioms in other languages - English, Japanese, Chinese, French.

To clearly see the use of phraseological units, refer to their list or on the page below.