up to Idioms

Speak of the devil

Contribute an edit

Submissions are moderated and will not appear immediately.

Text

Allowed HTML: <em>, <strong>, <i>, <a href>, <p>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>, <sup>, <sub>. Links must be internal relative URLs.
Anything else, eg suggestion of category change, scientific name etc.
Generated image of a couple speaking of the devil
The idiom speak of the devil means that the person you were just talking about suddenly appears. It is usually said in a light or joking way when someone arrives at the moment they are mentioned.

The phrase comes from an older saying speak of the devil and he shall appear. In the past it was a superstition that mentioning the devil might cause him to appear.

We were just wondering where Sam was, and speak of the devil, here he comes now.