bolt from the blue

English

Etymology

Suggesting a thunderbolt from a clear sky.

Noun

bolt from the blue (plural bolts from the blue)

A complete surprise; something totally unexpected.
Coordinate terms: act of God, accident

His death came as a bolt from the blue.

Translations

something totally unexpected

Bulgarian: като гръм от ясно небе (kato grǎm ot jasno nebe), изневиделица (bg) (iznevidelica)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 晴天霹靂／晴天霹雳 (zh) (qíngtiānpīlì), 突如其來／突如其来 (zh) (tūrúqílái, túrúqílái)
Czech: blesk z čistého nebe
Danish: som et lyn fra en klar himmel (like a lightning bolt out of a clear sky)
Finnish: salama kirkkaalta taivaalta (literally “(like) a lightning bolt out of a clear sky”)
German: Blitz aus heiterem Himmel
Greek: κεραυνός εν αιθρία m (keravnós en aithría)
Hebrew: כְּרַעַם בְּיוֹם בָּהִיר (he) (kerá'am beyóm bahír) (like thunder on a clear day)
Hungarian: derült égből villámcsapás (hu)
Icelandic: eins og þruma úr heiðskíru lofti, eins og skrattinn úr sauðaleggnum, sem reiðarslag, eins og þruma úr heiðríkju, öllum að óvörum
Indonesian: petir di siang bolong
Japanese: 青天の霹靂 (ja) (せいてんのへきれき, seiten no hekireki)
Korean: 청천 벽력과 같이 (cheongcheon byeongnyeokgwa gachi)
Latvian: kā pērkons no skaidrām debesīm, kā sniegs uz galvas
Lithuanian: lyg perkūnas iš giedro dangaus
Norwegian:
Bokmål: som lyn fra klar himmel (no)
Polish: grom z jasnego nieba m
Portuguese: imprevisto (pt) m
Romanian: din senin
Russian: гром среди́ я́сного не́ба (ru) (grom sredí jásnovo néba) (thunder from a clear sky), как снег на́ голову (ru) (kak sneg ná golovu) (like snow from the blue)
Scottish Gaelic: clach às an adhar
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: као гром из ведра неба

Roman: kao grom iz vedra neba
Spanish: como rayo caído del cielo
Swedish: som en blixt från klar himmel (sv) (like a lightning bolt out of a clear sky)

bolt from the blue

English

Etymology

Noun

Translations

See also