Phrase guide

business is business

phrase · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

phrase

Meaning 1

Business matters should not be influenced by friendship or sentiment.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Possibly a calque of French les affaires sont les affaires (or vice versa). The French phrase is found as far back as George Sand's Mattea (1833).

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 公事公辦 /公事公办 (gōngshìgōngbàn) — business is business
  • Dutch: zaken zijn zaken — business is business
  • Finnish: bisnes on bisnestä — business is business
  • French: les affaires sont les affaires — business is business
  • German: Geschäft ist Geschäft — business is business
  • Italian: gli affari sono gli affari — business is business
  • Polish: biznes to biznes — business is business
  • Portuguese: amigos, amigos; negócios à parte — business is business
  • Spanish: los negocios son los negocios — business is business
  • Tamil: தொழில் தொழில் தான் (toḻil toḻil tāṉ) — business is business