au doigt mouillé

French

Etymology

A reference to the practise of moistening one's finger and putting it upright to find which way the wind goes approximately. Compare Dutch nattevingerwerk, English finger to the wind.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /o dwa mu.je/
  • Audio (France (Vosges)):(file)
  • Audio (France (Toulouse)):(file)
  • Audio (France (Lyon)):(file)

Prepositional phrase

au doigt mouillé

  1. (informal) by the seat of one's pants, as a rule of thumb
    une estimation au doigt mouillé ― a ballpark estimate

See also

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