How do you say “Beat around the bush” in French?
The closest natural French equivalent is tourner autour du pot, which literally means “to turn around the pot”. English speakers use beat around the bush to mean to avoid saying something directly. This is the exact pragmatic equivalent of 'beat around the bush' and is used universally across the French-speaking world. Register: informal, neutral. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural French
tourner autour du pot
/tuʁ.ne o.tuʁ dy po/
- Literal meaning
- “to turn around the pot”
- Register
- informal, neutral
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Near-exact equivalent
95 out of 100
What a native French speaker would actually say
The English idiom 'beat around the bush' originates from hunting, where beaters would strike bushes to flush out game without approaching dangerous quarry directly. In French, the standard counterpart is 'tourner autour du pot'. While its exact historical origin is debated (often linked to lingering around a cooking pot without daring to dip in, or a chamber pot), its modern semantic weight matches the English phrase almost perfectly.
Both expressions are primarily used to describe someone hesitating or intentionally speaking evasively to avoid a direct, potentially uncomfortable truth. In practice, both are extremely frequent in the imperative when urging someone to cut to the chase, such as 'Arrête de tourner autour du pot !' ('Stop beating around the bush!').
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning5 out of 5
- Tone5 out of 5
- Context5 out of 5
- Literal similarity1 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
What are other ways to say it in French?
y aller par quatre chemins
Literally: “to go there by four paths”
Almost always used in the negative ('ne pas y aller par quatre chemins') to mean being blunt or not beating around the bush.
noyer le poisson
Literally: “to drown the fish”
Implies a deliberate tactic to confuse the topic and evade answering, rather than mere hesitation.
Common translation traps
battre autour du buisson
A literal word-for-word calque that makes no sense in French.
The notes above explain why these versions do not work in this context in French.
In context
English
Stop beating around the bush and tell me what happened.
French
Arrête de tourner autour du pot et dis-moi ce qui s'est passé.
English
Why are you beating around the bush? Just give me your answer.
French
Pourquoi tu tournes autour du pot ? Donne-moi juste ta réponse.
Related expressions
- What “Beat around the bush” means in English
- The elephant in the room, An obvious issue nobody mentions.
- Sit on the fence, To stay deliberately neutral.
Last updated 2026-09-11