/dorˈmire ˈkome un ˈɡiro/ lit. ‘sleep like a dormouse’
Italian idiom, everyday. To sleep very deeply and soundly, without waking up.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Italian speaker.
How do people use Dormire come un ghiro
?
Everyday Italian that you can say to anyone, about yourself or other people. It usually turns up in the past after a good night: “ho dormito come un ghiro”, or in the present for someone you can’t wake: “dorme come un ghiro”. You can stretch it with a time, as in “ho dormito come un ghiro tutta la notte”.
Dormire come un ghiro
in real sentences
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Ho dormito come un ghiro.
I slept like a log.
Tatoeba, sentence by Guybrush88, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Dopo la lunga escursione, ho dormito come un ghiro tutta la notte.
After the long hike, I slept like a log all night.
Tatoeba, sentence by Nuel, translation by Nuel, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Dormire come un ghiro
come from?
The ghiro is the edible dormouse (Glis glis), which hibernates for months in winter. The Treccani dictionary ties the popular phrase directly to those long winter sleeps, and Italian Wiktionary even gives “someone who sleeps a lot” as a second meaning of the word. French has the same animal (dormir comme un loir), and the word goes back to Latin glis. We found no date for the first use.
Mistakes learners make with Dormire come un ghiro
Translating the English and saying “dormire come un tronco” (like a log). Italians sleep like an animal here, and the animal is always the ghiro, a small rodent, not a mouse (topo).
Other Italian idioms like Dormire come un ghiro
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