Fortuna kołem się toczy
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What it means
Literally “fortune turns like a wheel.” Means that luck is cyclical — what goes up must come down, and vice versa. Today’s winner may be tomorrow’s loser. Equivalent to “the wheel of fortune turns.”
Vocabulary
- fortuna — fortune, luck
- koło — wheel, circle
- toczyć się — to roll, to turn
Grammar note
'Kołem' is the instrumental singular of 'koło', used here to describe the manner of movement — turning *like a wheel* / *as a wheel*.
Cultural context
The image of Fortuna's wheel is ancient and appears across European cultures. In Polish it remains a living idiom, not just a literary reference.
Intermediate
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