/ale sə pjøte/ lit. ‘to go and get into the pieu (slang for bed)’
French idiom, familiar. To go to bed.
Draft Not yet checked by a native French speaker.
How do people use Aller se pieuter
?
Familiar, mostly spoken French from France: what you say to friends or family when you’re off to bed, not to your landlord. The reflexive pronoun follows the person: “je vais me pieuter”, “il est parti se pieuter”, “on s’est pieutés tôt”. The noun works on its own too: “allez, au pieu !” (right, off to bed!).
Also said se pieuter, aller au pieu
Aller se pieuter
in real sentences
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Il est l’heure d’aller se pieuter.
It’s time to hit the sack.
Tatoeba, sentence by Julien_PDC, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Je crois que je vais me pieuter.
I think I’ll turn in.
Tatoeba, sentence by lbdx, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Aller se pieuter
come from?
The verb comes from pieu in its slang sense “bed”, and French Wiktionary is clear that this pieu has nothing to do with the wooden stake that’s spelled the same. It’s a dialect form of peau (skin), first meaning a bed made of animal skins, the way paillasse is a bed made of paille (straw). The oldest example Wiktionary quotes for “se pieuter” is from Yves Gibeau’s novel Allons z’enfants (1952); nobody gives a date for when the slang began.
Mistakes learners make with Aller se pieuter
Freezing the pronoun as “se”. It changes with the speaker: “je vais me pieuter”, “tu vas te pieuter”, “nous allons nous pieuter”. “Je vais se pieuter” is a classic learner slip.
Other French idioms like Aller se pieuter
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