This French expression doesn’t mean you have actual ink in your blood.
Why do I need to know se faire un sang d’encre?
This French expression is commonly used to talk about a state of anxiety but it doesn’t have anything to do with actual ink and blood.
What does it mean?
The expression se faire un sang d’encre, roughly pronounced suh fehr uhn sahn dahnkr (listen here), literally translates to “to make oneself a blood of ink”. In reality, it means “to worry terribly” or be “sick with worry”.
The origins of this French expression go back to the Middle Ages. It refers to a popular belief that some patients had dark blood – a colour resembling black ink – because they had too much of it. Doctors at the time believed that an excess of blood threw moods out of balance and caused feelings of anxiety and stress.
It was for this reason that healers recommended bloodletting, a practice which, in their view, reduced the amount of dark “bad blood” in the patient’s veins. The patient was thus expected to see their state of mind improve along with their health.
The expression se faire un sang d’encre was subsequently officially included in the dictionary of the Académie française during the 18th century.
Use it like this
Ma mère se fait un sang d’encre quand je rentre tard. – My mother is worried sick whenever I come home late.
Pourquoi tu ne m’as pas appelé? J’ai cru qu’il t’était arrivé quelque chose. Je me suis fait un sang d’encre ! – Why didn’t you call me? I thought something happened to you. I was terribly worried!
Il s’est fait un sang d’encre pendant ses examens. – He was extremely anxious during his exams.
