morder a língua

Portuguese

Meaning

to bite one's tongue

Example

Tive que morder a língua para não falar o que eu realmente pensava do chefe.

I had to bite my tongue to not say what I really thought about the boss.

Origin

The image is bodily and immediate: to clamp your teeth on your own tongue is to stop it moving and silence the words it was about to form. Morder a língua thus means to hold back something you were on the verge of saying — or, after the fact, to wish you could take it back.

Create a free account to read the full origin

Practice idioms with the Idiom Trainer

Falando's Idiom Trainer teaches you to recognize idiom meanings and create sentences using them, so you can speak like a Brazilian.

Try the Idiom Trainer Create a free account

More idioms

dar uma colher de cháto cut someone some slack, to give a break ter sangue de baratato have the patience of a saint, to have thick skin pôr a mão na massato get down to business, to roll up one's sleeves dar as carasto show up, to show one's face cair como uma luvato fit like a glove