Etymology

mauvais quart d'heure

Today it means: A brief unpleasant period; a bad yet quick experience. Full definition →

French mauvais quart d'heure
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The story

  1. French · borrowed frommauvais quart d'heure“bad quarter of an hour”
  2. English todaymauvais quart d'heure

Unadapted borrowing from French mauvais quart d'heure (“bad quarter of an hour”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.