Eitje

piece of cake [Dutch phrase of the week] Iconspeaker_3

"Eitje" is the diminutive of "ei", and literally translates to "(little) egg"… Apart from its literal use, "eitje" is used as an expression to say that it is very easy to a perform a certain activity, in other words: to say that something is a piece of cake. Ei

There are a number of equivalent expressions, all translating to "a piece of cake", see Expressions.

Examples:
– "Hoe ging je examen Nederlands?" – "Eitje."
("How did your Dutch exam go?" – "Piece of cake.")

– "Ben je niet helemaal uitgeput na 10 kilometer rennen?" – "Nee man, eitje!"
("Aren’t you totally exhausted after running 10 kilometres?" – "No dude, piece of cake!")

– "Ik zit nu al een half uur naar deze sudoku te koekeloeren, maar ik kom niet verder…"  – "Kom hier, deze is echt een eitje."
("I’m staring at this sudoku for half an hour now already, but I can’t seem to get any further…" – "Come here, this one’s really a piece of cake.")

Expressions:
– "Appeltje-eitje": a piece of cake. Lit.: little apple, little egg. An extended version the expression "eitje".
– "Een fluitje van een cent": a piece of cake. Lit.: a little whistle of a cent.
– "Een inkoppertje": a piece of cake.
– "Een peuleschil": a piece of cake. Lit.: a bean’s peel.

Example:
– "Deze kruiswoordpuzzel is echt geen peuleschil, level ‘Goeroe’ is in feite onbegonnen werk…"
("This crossword puzzle is really not a piece of cake, level "Guru" is in fact a hopeless task…")

– "Een koud kunstje": a piece of cake. Lit.: a cold little trick.
– "Een abc’tje": a piece of cake. Lit.: a little a-b-c.

Related words:
Ei: egg [noun] [het ei, de eieren].