pas mal

French

Etymology

Literally, “not bad”. Compare Italian niente male and Portuguese nada mau.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa mal/ ~ /pɑ mal/

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Adverb

pas mal

1. (litotes, idiomatic) not badly (reasonably well)

   Synonym: (Quebec) pas pire

Adjective

pas mal (invariable)

1. (litotes, idiomatic) not bad (reasonably good)

   une fille pas mal ― a fairly pretty girl

Descendants

• Yiddish: פּאַמאַלניק (pamalnik)

Pronoun

pas mal

1. (idiomatic, informal) quite a bit, quite a few (a decent amount)
   • Revue française d'odonto-stomatologie, Volume 17:

     Cependant, nous apprenons qu'il fumait approximativement vingt cigarettes par jour et consommait pas mal d'alcool sous forme de whisky.

     However, we learn that he smoked about 20 cigarettes per day and drank quite a bit of alcohol in the form of whisky.