How do you say “Get cold feet” in German?
The closest natural German equivalent is Kalte Füße bekommen, which literally means “To get cold feet”. English speakers use get cold feet to mean to lose your nerve about something you had agreed to do. Identical image, identical meaning, the two expressions are historically linked. It is informal and common in everyday German.
Closest natural German
Kalte Füße bekommen
/ˈkaltə ˈfyːsə bəˈkɔmən/
- Literal meaning
- “To get cold feet”
- Register
- informal
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Near-exact equivalent
97 out of 100
What a native German speaker would actually say
This is one of the few English idioms whose literal German translation is also the correct idiom, the phrase appears to have travelled between the two languages.
Use "kalte Füße bekommen" for the nerves and "einen Rückzieher machen" for the withdrawal itself.
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning5 out of 5
- Tone5 out of 5
- Context5 out of 5
- Literal similarity5 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
What are other ways to say it in German?
Einen Rückzieher machen
Literally: “To make a pull-back”
Focuses on actually backing out rather than on the nerves.
Der Mut hat ihn verlassen.
Literally: “The courage has left him.”
More literary.
In context
English
She got cold feet the night before the wedding.
German
Sie hat am Abend vor der Hochzeit kalte Füße bekommen.
English
The buyer got cold feet.
German
Der Käufer hat einen Rückzieher gemacht.
Related expressions
- What “Get cold feet” means in English
- Bite the bullet, To face something unpleasant with resolve.
- Sit on the fence, To stay deliberately neutral.
Last reviewed 2026-09-11