faire d’une pierre deux coups

The French expression “faire d’une pierre deux coups” translates literally to “make two strikes with one stone”. The meaning in English is:

• to kill two birds with one stone.

According to expressio.fr, the expression dates to the 16th century when used by Montaigne. A French-to-French definition suggests that the idiom means to reach two or more objectives with one single action or means.

sample sentence:

• En arrêtant de fumer, j’ai fait d’une pierre deux coups: J’ai recouvré la santé et j’ai commencé a dépenser moins d’argent. By stopping smoking I killed two birds with one stone: got healthy and started spending less money.

Here are some other expression with the word pierre (stone):

• apporter sa pierre à l’édifice to play your part, do your bit
• avoir un cœur de pierre to have a heart of stone
• geler à pierre fendre to be very cold
• jeter la pierre à qqn to judge somebody
• manger au lance-pierre to grab a quick bite to eat
• marquer qqch d’une pierre blanche to be a landmark event

main expressions page