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🇫🇷 French Word of the Day

esprit d’escalier

expr.

[ɛs.pʁi dɛs.ka.lje] ess-PREE dess-kah-LYAY

the perfect retort you think of once it’s too late

L’esprit d’escalier a encore frappé dans le métro !Staircase wit strikes again, this time on the métro!
Il a pensé à la bonne réponse trop tard : esprit d’escalier.He thought of the right answer too late: staircase wit.
Related words
  • repartie — quick-fire wit
  • réplique — a comeback
  • escalier — staircase

Literally staircase wit: the dazzling comeback that arrives as you are already on the stairs leaving the party. Diderot coined it, and everyone has lived it.

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What « esprit d’escalier » means, the register it belongs to (soutenu), and two sentences you can use today. A new word every day → Open this short as a page — transcript included →

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