/per un ˈtɔttso di ˈpane/ lit. ‘for a crust of bread’
Italian idiom, familiar. For a very small amount of money.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Italian speaker.
How do people use Per un tozzo di pane
?
Familiar Italian, and it usually comes after a verb of selling, buying or working: “ha venduto la casa per un tozzo di pane”, “lavora per un tozzo di pane”. There’s often a note of unfairness in it, since somebody got far too little. The related “guadagnarsi un tozzo di pane” means scraping a living on a poor wage.
Also said guadagnarsi un tozzo di pane
Per un tozzo di pane
in real sentences
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Cerco di guadagnarmi un tozzo di pane.
I’m trying to earn a crust of bread.
Tatoeba, sentence by dnnywld, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Per un tozzo di pane
come from?
A “tozzo” is a roughly cut chunk, Treccani says usually of stale leftover bread, and the word’s own origin is uncertain. Treccani lists “vendere, comperare, dar via per un tozzo di pane” as meaning at a rock-bottom price, and “guadagnare un tozzo di pane” as earning just enough to get by. Italian Wiktionary glosses “per un tozzo di pane” as “for a miserable payment”. Neither gives a date.
Mistakes learners make with Per un tozzo di pane
Confusing it with “essere un pezzo di pane”, which uses bread to describe a kind, gentle person. “Per un tozzo di pane” is only about price or pay, so it never describes someone’s character.
Other Italian idioms like Per un tozzo di pane
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