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A bitter pill to swallow
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A bitter pill to swallow : Phrases
| Meaning: |
An experience that's difficult or painful to accept. |
| Example: |
Losing the entire valley to the forest fire was a bitter pill to swallow. |
| Origin: |
This phrase refers to taking medicine in the days before doctors had
any way to make pills more palatable. The bark of the cinchona tree was used to fight malaria, but the quinine in it
was extremely bitter. Widely employed in the era before coated medication, cinchona pellets caused any disagreeable
thing to be termed a bitter pill to swallow. |
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