Avoir Le Cafard - French Expression Explained

The French expression Avoir le cafard means to feel low, to be down in the dumps, to be depressed. It literally translates to to have the cockroach and is pronounced [ah  vwar  leu  kah  far]. It has an informal register. Etymology The French word  cafard, which is probably from Arabic  kafr, miscreant, non-believer  (according to Le Grand Robert CD-ROM) has several meanings: a person who pretends to believe in Godtattletalecockroachmelancholy It was the  poet, Charles Baudelaire, in  Les Fleurs du mal, who first imbued  cafard  (and also  spleen, incidentally) with the fourth meaning. So the French expression  avoir  le cafard  isnt related to cockroaches at all (even though it kind of makes sense—who wouldnt feel bad about having cockroaches?) Example In order to use the phrase, you need to conjugate the verb avoir. Je ne peux pas me concentrer aujourdhui - jai le cafard.I cant concentrate today - Im depressed. Source Le Robert Staff. Le Grand Robert CD ROM. Edition 1, The Robert, 2004.