פֿאַרליבט אין ייִדיש

I. Physique général/build

Ajusté – fitted

Athlétique – athletic

Corpulent – stout

Costaud – stocky

Dégingandé – lanky

Élancé – slender

Fin – slender, fine-boned

Fluet – skinny

Fort – strong

Frêle – frail

Grand – tall

Gras – fat

Gros – big

Imposant – imposing

Maigre – thin

Malingre – sickly-looking

Massif – massive

Menu – petite

Mince – slim

Musclé – muscular

Petit – short

Potelé – plump

Robuste – sturdy

Svelte – svelte

Trapu – stocky

II. Visage/face

Affable – affable

Anguleux – angular

Austère – stern

Bouffi – puffy

Creusé – hollowed

Doux – soft

Étroit – narrow

Expressif – expressive

Grave – serious

Joufflu – chubby-cheeked

Lisse – smooth

Long – long

Lunaire – moon-faced

Ovale – oval

Plein – full

Ridé – wrinkled

Rond – round

Sympathique – friendly

Tiré – drawn, haggard

III. Yeux/eyes

Bridés – almond-shaped

Cerné – with dark circles

Clair – light

Enfoncé – deep-set

Étincelant – sparkling

Foncé – dark

Globuleux – bulging

Perçant – piercing 

Langoureux – languid

Larmoyant – watery

Mauvais – mean

Percé – penetrating

Pétillant – twinkling

Rêveur – dreamy

Vif – lively

IV. Nez/nose

Aquilin – aquiline

Camus – snub

Court – short 

Droit – straight

Épaté – flat

Fin – delicate

Fort – prominent

Grec – straight (classical)

Retroussé – turned-up

Tordu – crooked

V. Cheveux/hair

Bouclé – curly

Brun – brown

Châtain – chestnut 

Clairsemé – thinning

Crépu – kinky

Décoloré – bleached

Épais – thick

Filasse – flaxen

Fin – fine

Frisé – frizzy

Grisonnant – greying

Gras – greasy

Lisse – straight

Long – long

Mèches – streaked

Noir – black

Ondulé – wavy

Poivre et sel – salt-and-pepper

Raide – stiff

Roux – red

Sec – dry

Soigné – well-groomed

Teint – dyed

Touffu – bushy

Vaporeux – wispy

VI. Peau/skin

Blafard – pale

Bronzé – tanned

Clair – fair 

Couperosé – ruddy

Creux – hollow

Cuivré – coppery

Diaphane – diaphanous

Doux – soft

Élastique – elastic

Halé – sun-kissed

Huileux – oily

Lisse – smooth

Mat – matte 

Olive – olive

Pâle – pale

Parcheminé – parchment-like

Ridé – wrinkled

Rugueux – rough

Satiné – satiny

Sec – dry

Sensible – sensitive

Taché – blemished

Terne – sallow

Velouté – velvety

VII. Autres caractéristiques/other features

Sourcils/eyebrows

Arqué – arched

Brousailleux – bushy

Épais – thick

Fin – thin

Fourni – full

Front/forehead

Bombé – domed

Dégagé – high

Fuyant – sloping

Haut – high

Lèvres/lips

Charnu – fleshy

Fin – thin

Pulpeux – plump

Sourire/smile 

Éclatant – dazzling

Étincelant – sparkling

Ravissant – enchanting

Menton/chin

Fuyant – receding

Proéminent – prominent

Pointu – pointed

Mains/hands

Délicat – delicate

Doux – soft

Calleux – calloused 

Fin – slender

Osseux – bony

À deux pas d'ici - Nearby

À nous deux - En garde

À quatre pattes - On all fours

À six pieds sous terre - Buried

À un de ces quatre - See you soon (casual)

Attendre cent-sept ans - Waiting forever

Aux quatre coins du monde - All over the world

Avoir deux mains gauches - Being very clumsy

Avoir deux mots à dire à qqun - Having someone to scold

Avoir du mal à joindre les deux bouts - Struggling to earn enough

Avoir la boule à zéro - Being bald/shaved

Avoir le cul entre deux chaises - Not knowing what to do (casual)

Avoir le moral à zéro - Being depressed

Avoir les deux pieds sur terre - Being realistic

Avoir un cheveu sur la langue - Having a lisp

Avoir un poil dans la main - Being lazy

Avoir zéro défaut - Being flawless

Blague à deux balles, f - Crappy joke

Brûler la chandelle par les deux bouts - Spending too much

Ça fait deux - It's incompatible (Moi et les maths, ça fait deux)

C'est reparti comme en quatorze - Here we go again

C'était moins une - It was almost too late

Chercher à midi à quatorze heures - Complicating things

Cinquième roue du carosse, f - Third wheel

Comme pas deux - Better than anyone (casual)

Compter deux par deux - Skip count by twos

Couper la poire en deux - Finding a compromise

Couper les cheveux en quatre - Being very/too meticulous

De deux choses l'une - Here are the options

De mes deux - useless (Voiture de mes deux!)

De première nécessité - Absolutely essential

De seconde main - Secondhand

Deux fois, ça va, trois fois, bonjour les dégâts - It will be a mess

Deux-pièces, m - Two-roomed flat, Bikini

Deux-roues, m - Two-wheeled vehicle

Deux-temps, m - Two-stroke

Dire à qqun ses quatre vérités - Telling smn a few home truths

Dire qqc cent fois - Repeating oneself

Dormir sur ses deux oreilles - Being at peace with oneself

Durer trois plombes - Taking a long time (casual)

En deux coups de cuillère à pot - Very quickly

En deux temps trois mouvements - very quickly

En huit - Of next week (Jeudi en huit)

En quinze - In two weeks

En un mot comme en mille - In a nutshell

Entre les deux mon coeur balance - I don't know what to pick

État second, m - Trance (after medication, drug, illness)

Être à deux doigts de - Being very close to

Être au septième ciel - Being very happy

Être haut-e comme trois pommes - Being little (for a child)

Être plié-e en deux - Laughing very hard

Être tiré-e à quatre épingles - Being very well dressed

Être uni-es comme les doigts de la main - Being very good friends

Faire deux poids deux mesures - Having double standards

Faire d'une pierre deux coups - Killing two birds with one stone

Faire les cent pas - Pacing

Faire les quatre cents coups - Being up to mischief

Faire les trois-huit - Having an eight hour shift

Freiner des quatre fers - Digging in heels

Grand huit, m - Rollercoaster

Jamais deux sans trois - All things come in threes

Je te le donne en mille - You'll never guess

Le mot de cinq lettres - Shit (Merde)

Les deux font la paire - They are two of a kind

Les deux mon capitaine - Both options are reasonable

Les quatre fers en l'air - Flat on the back

Manger comme quatre - Eating a lot

Ménage à trois - Love triangle

Merci mille fois - Thank you so much

Mille-feuilles, m - Cream slice

Mille-pattes, m - Centipede

Mouton à cinq pattes, m - Something exceptional

Ne faire ni une ni deux - Deciding without hesitating

Ne faire qu'un (avec) - Being one with

Ne pas avoir un radis/rond - Being broke (casual)

Ne pas gagner des mille et des cent - Not earning much

Ne pas se le faire dire deux fois - Not having to be told twice

Ne pas y aller par quatre chemins - Going straight to the point

Ne rien savoir faire de ses dix doigts - Being lazy, uncapable

Neuf fois sur dix - Nine times out of ten

Nombre premier, m - Prime number

Paris ne s'est pas fait en un jour - Rome wasn't built in a day

Prendre son courage à deux mains - Plucking up courage

Quatre à quatre - Very quickly

Quatre-heures, m - Snack

Quatre-quarts, m - Pound cake

Recevoir cinq sur cinq - Understanding stg perfectly

Remettre les compteurs à zéro - Starting over

Repartir à zéro - Starting over

Semaine des quatre jeudi, f - The month of Sundays

Se mettre en quatre (pour qqun) - Doing a lot to give a favour

Se mettre sur son trente-et-un - Dressing up to the nines

S'en moquer comme de l'an quarante - Not caring (casual)

Se parler entre quatre z'yeux - Talking face to face

Se ressembler comme deux gouttes d'eau - Looking identical

Se saigner aux quatre veines - Depriving oneself

Tomber sur un os - Hitting a snag

Tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche (avant de parler) - Thinking before speaking

Tous les trente-six du mois - Once in a blue moon

Treize à la douzaine - In large quantities

Trente-trois tours, m - Long-playing record

Troisième âge, m - Senior citizens

Un à la fois - One at a time

Un-e de perdu-e, dix de retrouvé-es - Plenty more fish in the sea

Un homme averti en vaut deux - Forewarned is forearmed

Un jour ou l'autre - Some day

Vingt dieux - Holy crap (casual/old)

Vingt-quatre heures sur vingt-quatre - 24/7

Voir trente-six chandelles - Seeing stars

Y regarder à deux fois - Thinking before making a decision

זאָל דזשיי די ווענס שטיצן דײַן צוועק.

zol dzhey di vens shtitsn dayn tsvek.

2026.01.03

Le Petit Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943

Chapter 1.

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing. 

Lorsque j’avais six ans j’ai vu, une fois, une magnifique image, dans un livre sur la Forêt Vierge qui s’appelait « Histoires Vécues ». Ça représentait un serpent boa qui avalait un fauve. Voilà la copie du dessin.

In the book, it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that, they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."

I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a coloured pencil, I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked something like this:

On disait dans le livre : « Les serpents boas avalent leur proie tout entière, sans la mâcher. Ensuite, ils ne peuvent plus bouger et ils dorment pendant les six mois de leur digestion. »

J’ai alors beaucoup réfléchi sur les aventures de la jungle et, à mon tour, j’ai réussi, avec un crayon de couleur, à tracer mon premier dessin. Mon dessin numéro 1. Il était comme ça :

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.

But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?"

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of a boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

J’ai montré mon chef-d’œuvre aux grandes personnes et je leur ai demandé si mon dessin leur faisait peur.

Elles m’ont répondu: «Pourquoi un chapeau ferait-il peur ? »

Mon dessin ne représentait pas un chapeau. Il représentait un serpent boa qui digérait un éléphant. J’ai alors dessiné l’intérieur du serpent boa, afin que les grandes personnes puissent comprendre. Elles ont toujours besoin d’explications. Mon dessin numéro 2 était comme ça :

The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.

Les grandes personnes m’ont conseillé de laisser de côté les dessins de serpents boas ouverts ou fermés, et de m’intéresser plutôt à la géographie, à l’histoire, au calcul et à la grammaire. C’est ainsi que j’ai abandonné, à l’âge de six ans, une magnifique carrière de peintre. J’avais été découragé par l’insuccès de mon dessin numéro 1 et de mon dessin numéro 2. Les grandes personnes ne comprennent jamais rien toutes seules, et c’est fatigant, pour les enfants, de toujours et toujours leur donner des explications.

J’ai donc dû choisir un autre métier et j’ai appris à piloter des avions. J’ai volé un peu partout dans le monde. Et la géo- graphie, c’est exact, m’a beaucoup servi. Je savais reconnaître, du premier coup d’œil, la Chine de l’Arizona. C’est très utile, si l’on est égaré pendant la nuit.

*

In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.

Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept. I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say: "That is a hat." Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.

J’ai ainsi eu, au cours de ma vie, des tas de contacts avec des tas de gens sérieux. J’ai beaucoup vécu chez les grandes personnes. Je les ai vues de très près. Ça n’a pas trop amélioré mon opinion.

Quand j’en rencontrais une qui me paraissait un peu lucide, je faisais l’expérience sur elle de mon dessin numéro 1 que j’ai toujours conservé. Je voulais savoir si elle était vraiment compréhensive. Mais toujours elle me répondait : « C’est un chapeau. » Alors je ne lui parlais ni de serpents boas, ni de forêts vierges, ni d’étoiles. Je me mettais à sa portée. Je lui parlais de bridge, de golf, de politique et de cravates. Et la grande personne était bien contente de connaître un homme aussi raisonnable.

My handwriting in five languages

English | Burmese | Korean | Chinese | Japanese

I don't have the most beautiful handwriting but I love writing on paper with a pen!! my fav is black in because I feel cooler. The sentences are from books I had around.

my fav handwriting is definitely my Burmese handwriting. Look at those round things go!!!

my favorite language to practice writing in is Chinese. The hanzi (or kanji/hanja) feels so nice. It's like meditation

my favorite language to actually write things in is Korean. Maybe because now I'm fluent in a language other than Burmese and English. While writing long essays in Korean, I can FEEL my brain unlocking things.

literally: to some degree and bad

as best as possible, with great difficulty, just barely

Origin: "Recht" can also mean correct, properly or good. The word "schlecht" originally meant "simple, plain, smooth." So it was a rhyming intensifier when used in the sense of "right" and "wrong." In this sense, the phrase appeared, for example, in the Luther Bible of 1534 in Job 1:1: „Es war ein man im lande Uz / der hies Hiob / der selb war schlecht und recht / Gottfürchtig / und meidet das böse.“ ("There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. He was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.")

It was not until the 17th century that the word was given its current meaning, but the idiom did not change. The idiom thus underwent a near reversal of meaning, as according to current usage, the negative meaning of "schlecht" as "bad" predominates.

For this reason, the phrase "mehr schlecht als recht" (more bad than good) is often used when employing this idiom.

Doubt

begrudge, controvert, despair, disapprove, disbelieve, discountenance, dissent, fume, hesitate, lovelorn, mind, mistrust, objection, oppugn, question, reject, repudiate, rue, scruple, skepticism, suspect, wonder

Elated

affect, alleviate, appeal, appeasement, arrest, attract, awe, bedazzle, bemuse, brighten, charm, defuse, divert, elevate, enamor, encourage, endear, enliven, enthrall, enticement, excite, fascinate, fortify, galvanize, gladden, gratify, hearten, inflame, inspire, interest, invigorate, lighten, matter, perk up, prod, rally, reassure, rouse, satisfy, strike, tantalize, temper, tickle, touch, wake/waken, whet

Fear

apprehension, dismay, horror, panic, terror, trepidation

Hate

abhor, abominate, aggression, anger, antagonism, atrocity, bad blood, blow up, burn, deplore, detest, disdain, disinclination, disrespect, dissent, enmity, execrate, frown, fury, horror, incivility, inhumanity, lament/lamentation, loathe, malice, odium, outrage, pique, rancor, resent, revulsion, seethe, spite, umbrage, venom, wrath

Love

acceptance, admiration, adoration, adulation, affection, amour, appreciate, approval, attention, bask, bewitched, canonize, charity, consideration, constancy, delight in, dig, discrimination, dote on/dote upon, enamored, enjoy, esteem, exult, fall for, fascinated, favor, flame, fond, get a kick out of, gratitude, idolize, leaning, like, mad, mercy, passion, predilection, prize, rapture, respect, revere/reverence, savor, taste, thrill, treasure, venerate, zeal

Of concern

afraid, alarm, anxiety, apprehension, concern, craze, dismay, distraction, distress, encumbrance, feeling, foreboding, guilt, hang up, horror, jitters, jumpy, misgiving, obsession, one-track mind, passion, petrified, puzzled, question, suspicion, terror, trouble, weight, wonder, worry

Surprise

alarm, appall, astound, backfire, bedazzle, bewilder, confound, dazzle, dumbfound, electrify, frighten, overwhelm, petrify, shock, startle, stun, stupefy, terrify

NOTE

The above are concepts classified according to subject and usage. It not only helps writers and thinkers to organize their ideas but leads them from those very ideas to the words that can best express them.

It was, in part, created to turn an idea into a specific word. By linking together the main entries that share similar concepts, the index makes possible creative semantic connections between words in our language, stimulating thought and broadening vocabulary.

Agree

accede, acceptance, accord, acknowledgment, acquiescence, align, avowal, bear, cohere, compromise, consent, contract, draft, enlist, give in/give up, go along/go along with, grant, negotiate, unanimous, yield

Deny

abjure, abuse, affront, attack, backstab, bad-mouth, belie, blacken, blemish, confront, curse, darn, defamation, defile, demur, denigrate, detract, dig, disclaim, discountenance, disgrace, disown, disparagement, downplay, explode, flout, fulminate, gainsay, gird, invective, jeer, lament, lecture, malign, minimize, mouth, needle, oppose, protest, put down, put-down, rebuff, refute, remonstrate, renunciation, run down, satirize, scold, show up, sit-in, slander, smear, snap, snub, squeal, sully, swearing, taunt, tirade, turn, underestimate, vituperation, write off, yammer

Explain

account for, admit, apprise, cite, clarify, come clean, concede, confirm, corroborate, defense, demonstrate, dilate, elucidate, enlighten, evidence, expand, explicate, gloss, illustrate, itemize, let on, palliate, plea, prove, recite, simplify, speak out/speak up, spell out, translator, warrant

Fabricate

aspersion, belie, disprove, profane

Inform

acknowledge, address, advertise, allow, allusion, apprise, bare, betrayal, blab, breathe, briefing, broadcast, chronicle, clue, come out with, confession, convey, debunk, define, detail, dictate, divulge, expose, feature, furnish, give, gossip, hint, intimate, issue, lecture, newscaster, orate, out of the closet, pass, post, proclaim, promulgate, publication, publish, release, reveal, show up, speak, spill, squeal, talk, tip, uncover, unveil, weatherperson, whisper

Instruct

bar, educate, prescribe

Persuade

advance, argument, bend, budge, carry, coerce, convince, discourage, draw, drum up, elicit, entice, forward, goad, hammer away/hammer into, induce, influence, invite, lobby, motivate, negotiation, pitch, prevail upon/prevail on, prompt, reason, spur, sway, urge, win/win over

Promise

assurance, avow, commitment, ensure, go back/go back on, oath, portend, vouch, warrant, word

Suggest

advice, advocate, ask, come up with, connote, drum into, exhort, fish for, get at, guide, imply, insinuate, moralize, move, nomination, pontificate, preach, propose, recommend, urge

Praise

accent, acclamation, accredit, adulation, apotheosis, applause, benediction, bless, champion, citation, commend, compliment, congratulations, credit, dedicate, deify, elevate, endorse, eulogize, exalt, extol, flatter, flattery, glorify, homage, laud, lionize, obsequy, plaudits, puff, salute, thanks, tribute, worship

Warn

admonish, alert, caution, caveat, defy, enjoin, exhortation, foreboding, foretell, page, remind, warning

NOTE

The above are concepts classified according to subject and usage. It not only helps writers and thinkers to organize their ideas but leads them from those very ideas to the words that can best express them.

It was, in part, created to turn an idea into a specific word. By linking together the main entries that share similar concepts, the index makes possible creative semantic connections between words in our language, stimulating thought and broadening vocabulary. Writing Resources PDFs