English
all cats are grey in the dark
All cats are grey in the dark comes from French la nuit ‘all cats are gray in the dark’.
- Frenchc. 1600–presentla nuit‘all cats are gray in the dark’
- Englishearliest quotation 1562all cats are grey in the dark
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentla nuit‘all cats are gray in the dark’
- Englishearliest quotation 1562all cats are grey in the dark
Earliest quotation: 1562, John Heywood: “[Of a widow:] And to make carnall appetite content,…”
The story
Calque of French la nuit, tous les chats sont gris (‘at night, all cats are grey’), sometimes understood with vulgar reference to secondary senses of cat and pussy.
Every English word from French la nuit
Today it means
proverb Sex is enjoyable regardless of the physical attractiveness or social station of one's partner.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / French la nuit / all cats are grey in the dark