les carottes sont cuites

Literally, “The carrots are cooked”

In the 18th century, to have one's carrots cooked (avoir ses carottes cuites) meant “to be dying”, probably a metaphor for the carrots that were cooked to accompany meat dishes, ironically suggesting that the dying person would soon be ready to be eaten with these carrots. The expression later became “the carrots are cooked”, referring to any kind of hopeless situation.

• IPA^(key): /le ka.ʁɔt sɔ̃ kɥit/

• Audio:

  (file)

les carottes sont cuites

1. (informal) the goose is cooked, the writing is on the wall, the game is up, it's all up, it's over

• fichu
• foutu
• la fin des haricots
• les jeux sont faits
• le sort en est jeté