See open sesame in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for open sesame meaning in English (8.2kB)
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"etymology_text": "From its use in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, translating French Sésame, ouvre-toi in Antoine Galland's version of the Ali Baba story in the One Thousand and One Nights, possibly based on an oral Arabic source.\nNot, as some have purported, a corruption of Open, says me!.",
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{
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"open up (especially referring to doors)"
],
"id": "en-open_sesame-en-phrase-W1mkYeVZ",
"links": [
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{
"_dis1": "92 8",
"word": "open, sesame"
}
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{
"code": "ar",
"lang": "Arabic",
"roman": "iftaḥ yā simsim",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "اِفْتَح يَا سِمْسِم"
},
{
"code": "az",
"lang": "Azerbaijani",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "simsim, açıl"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "obre't sèsam"
},
{
"code": "yue",
"lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "芝麻開門"
},
{
"code": "yue",
"lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
"roman": "zi¹ maa⁴ hoi¹ mun⁴",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "芝麻开门"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "芝麻開門"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "zhīma kāimén",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "芝麻开门"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "sezame, otevři se"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "sesam, luk dig op"
},
{
"code": "et",
"lang": "Estonian",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "seesam avane"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "seesam aukene"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "Sésame, ouvre-toi"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "Sesam, öffne dich"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "szezám, tárulj"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "apriti sesamo"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "開け胡麻"
},
{
"alt": "ひらけごま",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "hirake goma",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "開けゴマ"
},
{
"code": "mk",
"lang": "Macedonian",
"roman": "otvóri se, sézame",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "отво́ри се, се́заме"
},
{
"code": "fa",
"lang": "Persian",
"roman": "sesemi bâz šov",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "سسمی باز شو"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "open up",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Sezamie, otwórz się"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "abre-te sésamo"
},
{
"code": "ru",
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"roman": "sezám, otkrójsja",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "сеза́м, откро́йся"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
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"sense": "open up",
"word": "симси́м, откро́йся"
},
{
"code": "es",
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"sense": "open up",
"word": "ábrete sésamo"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "sesam, öppna dig!"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "açıl susam"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "açıl susam açıl"
}
]
}
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"etymology_text": "From its use in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, translating French Sésame, ouvre-toi in Antoine Galland's version of the Ali Baba story in the One Thousand and One Nights, possibly based on an oral Arabic source.\nNot, as some have purported, a corruption of Open, says me!.",
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"tags": [
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{
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{
"ref": "1899, William Wallace Cook, “Aquastor”, in Overland Monthly, page 15",
"text": "The blue topaz was bought by me, from the chieftain of the tribe to which Quacal belongs. It is an ‘open sesame’ to his favor.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1905, John Ruskin, The Works of John Ruskin, page lv",
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"ref": "1963, William J. Palmer, Trial Tactics in California, page 57",
"text": "Relevancy not always an open sesame having in mind the over-all authority and discretion of the trial judge.",
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{
"ref": "2001 September 24, Gareth McLean, “Sympathy for a devil”, in The Guardian",
"text": "When Mussolini was a young chap, he dabbled with socialism, imagining it to be an open sesame to a better society.",
"type": "quotation"
}
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"Any successful means of achieving a result, especially means that are magical or technical, or otherwise beyond the understanding of most people."
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"translations": [
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"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "successful means of achieving a result",
"word": "taikasana"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "successful means of achieving a result",
"tags": [
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"word": "seesam"
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{
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"sense": "successful means of achieving a result",
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"word": "sésame"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "successful means of achieving a result",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "chiave di volta"
},
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"raw_tags": [
"in imperative as a deverbal noun"
],
"sense": "successful means of achieving a result",
"tags": [
"also"
],
"word": "açıl susam açıl"
}
]
}
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"code": "ar",
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"roman": "iftaḥ yā simsim",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "اِفْتَح يَا سِمْسِم"
},
{
"code": "az",
"lang": "Azerbaijani",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "simsim, açıl"
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{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "obre't sèsam"
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{
"code": "yue",
"lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "芝麻開門"
},
{
"code": "yue",
"lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
"roman": "zi¹ maa⁴ hoi¹ mun⁴",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "芝麻开门"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "芝麻開門"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "zhīma kāimén",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "芝麻开门"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "sezame, otevři se"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "sesam, luk dig op"
},
{
"code": "et",
"lang": "Estonian",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "seesam avane"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "seesam aukene"
},
{
"code": "fr",
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"sense": "open up",
"word": "Sésame, ouvre-toi"
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{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "Sesam, öffne dich"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "szezám, tárulj"
},
{
"code": "it",
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"sense": "open up",
"word": "apriti sesamo"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "開け胡麻"
},
{
"alt": "ひらけごま",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "hirake goma",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "開けゴマ"
},
{
"code": "mk",
"lang": "Macedonian",
"roman": "otvóri se, sézame",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "отво́ри се, се́заме"
},
{
"code": "fa",
"lang": "Persian",
"roman": "sesemi bâz šov",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "سسمی باز شو"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "open up",
"tags": [
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],
"word": "Sezamie, otwórz się"
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{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "abre-te sésamo"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "sezám, otkrójsja",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "сеза́м, откро́йся"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "simsím, otkrójsja",
"sense": "open up",
"word": "симси́м, откро́йся"
},
{
"code": "es",
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"sense": "open up",
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},
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"sense": "open up",
"word": "sesam, öppna dig!"
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{
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{
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"sense": "open up",
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"word": "open sesame"
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"text": "The blue topaz was bought by me, from the chieftain of the tribe to which Quacal belongs. It is an ‘open sesame’ to his favor.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1905, John Ruskin, The Works of John Ruskin, page lv",
"text": "He who can read a true book aright has an open sesame to audiences with the great and wise of all time.",
"type": "quotation"
},
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"ref": "1963, William J. Palmer, Trial Tactics in California, page 57",
"text": "Relevancy not always an open sesame having in mind the over-all authority and discretion of the trial judge.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2001 September 24, Gareth McLean, “Sympathy for a devil”, in The Guardian",
"text": "When Mussolini was a young chap, he dabbled with socialism, imagining it to be an open sesame to a better society.",
"type": "quotation"
}
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],
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[
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"tags": [
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{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "successful means of achieving a result",
"word": "taikasana"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "successful means of achieving a result",
"tags": [
"archaic"
],
"word": "seesam"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "successful means of achieving a result",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "sésame"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "successful means of achieving a result",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "chiave di volta"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"raw_tags": [
"in imperative as a deverbal noun"
],
"sense": "successful means of achieving a result",
"tags": [
"also"
],
"word": "açıl susam açıl"
}
],
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"Antoine Galland",
"One Thousand and One Nights"
],
"word": "open sesame"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.