The French expression “un secret de Polichinelle” translates literally to “the secret of a Polichinelle puppet”.English meanings include:
- an open secret
- it’s no secret
- it’s common knowledge
A French meaning of this idiom is simply “un secret connu de tous”, or a secret known by all. Another French meaning is a “faux secret que tout le monde connaît”, or a false secret that everybody knows.
Here’s an example sentence:
Stanley sort avec son assistante après le travail depuis plus que quatre ans. Il pense que les gens n’en savent guère mais en réalité c’est un secret de Polichinelle. Stanley has been going out with his assistant after work for over four years. He thinks people hardly know about it but in reality it’s an open secret.
There’s one more common French idiom that uses Polichinelle:
- avoir un Polichinelle dans le tiroir – to have a bun in the oven (to be pregnant)
