English Idioms
Comprehensive resource for understanding and mastering English idioms
Sell like hot cakes
Meaning
"Sell like hot cakes" is an idiom that means to sell something quickly and in large quantities, often exceeding expectations or predictions. It implies that the item being sold is highly popular and sought after. The literal meaning of the idiom refers to a recipe for making cakes that are so hot they need to be handled carefully when taking them out of the oven. This phrase likely originated from the idea of something being so popular that it's "selling like hot cakes," or in other words, selling incredibly quickly and efficiently.
Usage
- The new smartphone was sold like hot cakes during the first weekend of its release.
- The restaurant's signature dish, a spicy chicken tikka masala, sells like hot cakes every Friday night.
- The company had to hire extra staff to keep up with demand for their latest product, which sold like hot cakes on Black Friday.
- The highly anticipated concert sold out in minutes, leaving many disappointed fans wanting more tickets than were available.
- The new fitness app has been downloaded millions of times and is selling like hot cakes, becoming the most popular health and wellness app on the market.
Roots and History
The phrase "selling like hot cakes" can be traced back to the 19th century, with the first known use appearing in a collection of American idioms in 1875. Over time, the idiom has become more popular and is now widely used throughout the English-speaking world to describe a product or service that sells quickly and efficiently.
Synonyms in English
- Selling like wildfire
- A hit among customers
- Flying off the shelves
- In high demand
- Out of stock fast
Synonyms in other languages
- Vendre comme des briques chaudes (French) - means to sell quickly and efficiently, like selling bricks that are still hot from the oven.
- Vender como caliente (Spanish) - means to sell quickly and efficiently, like something that's hot and ready to eat.
- 售壳热火之物 (Chinese) - means a product that's so popular it's selling quickly and efficiently, like something that's burning hot.
- 판매되는 물품 많이 파악해주십시오 (Japanese) - means to keep track of all the products that are selling well, like keeping a record of how many hot cakes are being sold.
- 판매되는 물품이 많은데요 (Korean) - means there are many products that are selling well, like many hot cakes being sold.