Welcome to Expressions bien de chez nous! Today we are looking at an expression that involves chickens, cold showers and spine-tingling music: avoir la chair de poule. You have probably felt it many times without knowing there was a French expression for it. Let’s find out.

Where does “avoir la chair de poule” come from?

Think about the last time you felt suddenly cold, or heard a piece of music that gave you shivers, or experienced something truly frightening. In all of these situations, your skin probably reacted in a very particular way: tiny bumps appeared on the surface, the hairs stood up, and the whole thing looked a little like the skin of a freshly plucked chicken.

That is exactly where the expression comes from. Doctors in the 17th century used the term chair de poule, literally “chicken flesh”, as a medical description for this dermatological phenomenon. At the time, the word chair (flesh) was standard medical vocabulary for skin, and the comparison to a plucked chicken was considered the most accurate image available. Over time, the expression left the world of medicine and entered everyday French speech.

What does it mean?

Avoir la chair de poule means to get goosebumps: that involuntary physical reaction where tiny bumps appear on the skin in response to cold, fear, surprise or strong emotion. It captures both the physical sensation and the emotional one. You can have la chair de poule because you are freezing, because something frightened you, or because a piece of music moved you beyond words.

In English, we talk about “goosebumps” or “goose pimples”, which is the same idea: the skin of a plucked goose rather than a chicken. The French went with the chicken. Both languages landed on the same barnyard image.

Some situations

It is winter. You step out of the shower and realise you forgot to turn on the heating. Within seconds:

“J’ai immédiatement eu la chair de poule en sortant de la douche.”
I got goosebumps immediately when I got out of the shower.

You are someone who scares easily. Your partner tells you a frightening story about the building next door, and from that day on, every time you walk past it:

“J’ai la chair de poule chaque fois que je passe devant cet immeuble.”
I get goosebumps every time I walk past that building.

It is your first time at the Opera. You expected to find it dull, but the moment the soprano begins to sing, something unexpected happens:

“Quand la soprano a commencé à chanter, j’ai eu la chair de poule et je me suis senti fasciné. Je pense que je reviendrai.”
When the soprano started singing, I got goosebumps and felt completely fascinated. I think I will come back.

The science behind it

So what is actually happening when you get la chair de poule? The precise scientific term is horripilation. Tiny muscles located at the base of each hair, called arrector pili muscles, contract suddenly. This makes the hairs stand upright and creates small bumps on the surface of the skin.

Our bodies developed this response as a biological thermostat: when we are cold, the raised hairs trap a layer of warm air close to the skin. In animals with thick fur, this is very effective. In humans, who have relatively little body hair, the visual effect is much more dramatic than the warming benefit. But the reflex remains, triggered not only by cold but also by strong emotion, fear or awe.

More French expressions to discover

Avoir la chair de poule is a wonderful example of how a medical term from the 17th century became one of the most vivid and widely used expressions in everyday French. The image is instantly recognisable, whether you are standing in a cold shower or sitting in an opera house with tears in your eyes.

Curious about more expressions like this one? Explore our French expressions from Bordeaux series. And if you want to use them naturally in real conversations, our French language courses in Bordeaux are the ideal setting. You can also test your knowledge with our online quizzes on French expressions.

From the markets to the concert halls, Bordeaux is a city that will give you la chair de poule for all the right reasons. Come and discover it through our cultural activities in Bordeaux.

Channel Trotters: French in Bordeaux