A Piece of Cake
“A piece of cake” is an informal way to describe something very easy to do. A well-known early printed citation appears in Ogden Nash’s 1930s collection The Primrose Path, but an early citation is not proof that Nash coined the expression.
If a task is “a piece of cake,” it is very easy. The 1930s Nash citation is important chronology, but this engine treats it as documented early evidence rather than proof of coinage or proof that the expression came from cakewalks, prizes, or another specific custom.
Key details
What the evidence supports
Ogden Nash coined “a piece of cake.”
A Nash citation is a notable early printed example, but earliest located print evidence is not enough by itself to prove authorship or coinage.
The idiom directly derives from cakewalk competitions or cake prizes.
The semantic connection is plausible, but the reviewed sources do not establish a documented direct chain from that custom to this fixed idiom.
Further guidance
Coinage Boundary
Finding an early printed example establishes a terminus in the documentary record; it does not establish that the printed author invented the idiom.
Documented Citation
Phrase Finder identifies a 1930s Ogden Nash citation in The Primrose Path. The bibliographic record confirms the Nash collection, while the exact line is retained here as secondary-reported chronology rather than independently re-quoted from a full primary scan.
Meaning
Cambridge defines “a piece of cake” as something very easy to do and labels it informal.
Semantic Family
Cake, pie, cakewalk, and related pleasant/easy metaphors form a broader semantic family, but similarity is not sufficient evidence for a direct derivation.
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.
- A piece of cake — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Current meaning and register
- A Piece of Cake — meaning and origin (opens in a new tab)The Phrase Finder · Early citation research
- The Primrose Path — bibliographic record (opens in a new tab)Google Books / bibliographic record for Ogden Nash · Bibliographic confirmation for the Nash collection; not treated as a full-text quotation source