The English idiom, to lose one's marbles, means you have lost your mind or become crazy or ceased to behave in a consistent or rational manner. This page contains idioms meaning similar things in English and other languages.
| Language | Idiom |
|---|---|
| Catalan | perdre el seny (to lose one’s sanity) |
| Danish | tabe småkagerne (to lose the cookies) |
| Dutch | de klus kwijt zijn (to lose the job) |
| English | To lose one's marbles To lose one's mind To lose one’s head To lose the plot To take leave of one’s senses To be off one’s rocker |
| French | perdre la raison (to lose one’s mind) perdre la tête (to lose the head) perdre la boussole (to lose the compass) perdre les pédales (to lose the pedals) se perdre les oies (to lose the geese) péter un plomb (to blow a fuse) péter les plombs (to blow the fuses) péter un câble (to blow a cable) péter une coche (to blow a stage-coach) |
| Galician | perder a cabeza (to lose your head) |
| Italian | andar fuori di testa (to go out of one’s mind) bersi il cervello (to drink one’s brain) perdere le staffe (to lose [one’s] stirrups) |
| Japanese | 正気を失う (shōki wo ushinau) (to lose one’s sanity) いかれちまったに違いない (ikarechi matta ni chigainai) (to go crazy) |
| Polish | postradać rozum (to lose [one's] mind) postradać zmysły (to lose [one's] senses) |
| Portuguese | perder a linha (to lose the line) |
| Scottish Gaelic | perder a linha (to become confused / tangled) a' dol far do threadhain (to go one’s fast) tha mi ás mo chrònaigil (I’m out of my ?) |
| Spanish | perder la razón (to lose one’s reason) perder los papeles (to lose the papers) |
| Turkish | aklını kaçırmak (to cause one’s mind to flee) |
| Vietamese | mất trí (to lose wisdom) |
| Welsh | colli'ch pwyll (to lose one’s caution) colli'ch rheswm (to lose one’s reason) colli arnoch eich hun (to lose oneself) colli arni (to lose it) |
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.
Information about and translations of this idiom
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/lose-your-marbles.html
https://wordhistories.net/2017/04/15/to-lose-ones-marbles/
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lose_one's_mind#English
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lose_the_plot#English
Omniglot blogs post about these idioms in English and French
https://www.omniglot.com/bloggle/?p=24576
https://www.omniglot.com/bloggle/?p=23132
Here's a song I wrote in April 2026 inspired by French versions of these idioms.
It's all Greek to me | It's raining cats and dogs | As easy as falling off a log | A sandwich short of a picnic | It's small world | When pigs fly | Out of sight, out of mind | Crystal-clear | Penny Pinching | Practice makes perfect | The grass is always greener | As Snug as a Bug in a Rug | When the Cat's Away | Throw in the towel | To lose one's marbles
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