Break a Leg
“Break a leg” is an informal good-luck wish, especially before a performance. The theatrical sense is documented in mid-twentieth-century American print, but several popular explanations for why a deliberately negative wish came to mean good luck remain unproved.
“Break a leg” means good luck, especially before someone performs. Printed evidence for the theatrical sense appears by the late 1940s, but the exact origin mechanism—superstitious reversal, a German-language influence, or another route—remains uncertain.
Key details
What the evidence supports
Actors say the opposite of “good luck” because directly wishing good luck is considered unlucky.
The earliest reported theatrical print example itself appears in a discussion of theatre superstitions, supporting the context while not proving the ultimate invention mechanism.
The English phrase came directly from German “Hals- und Beinbruch.”
A German parallel is often noted, but the reviewed evidence does not establish direct transmission into the English theatrical formula.
The expression comes from John Wilkes Booth, bowing at the “leg line,” or deliberately injuring performers.
These stories are much more specific than the surviving early printed evidence and are not treated as established history.
Further guidance
Meaning
Cambridge defines the idiom as a way of wishing someone good luck, especially before a performance.
Older Unrelated Sense
An older “break a leg” expression existed with a different, obsolete meaning; it is not treated as the origin of the modern theatrical wish merely because the words match.
Origin boundary
The documentary record supports the theatrical use earlier than it supports any one explanatory story for why the wording was chosen.
Theatrical Chronology
Specialist phrase research identifies a 1948 American newspaper example in a discussion of theatre superstitions and a 1949 theatrical citation in another slang reference tradition.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Break a leg — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Current meaning and register
- Break a Leg — meaning and origin (opens in a new tab)The Phrase Finder · Theatrical chronology and origin-claim review