die Katze beißt sich in den Schwanz
German edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Literally: “the cat is biting its own tail”. Compare French c’est le chat qui se mord la queue and so on.
Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Phrase edit
die Katze beißt sich in den Schwanz
- (idiomatic) it's a vicious circle, every solution leads to a dead end or creates new problems
Usage notes edit
- Usually employed with da and inversion: Da beißt sich die Katze in den Schwanz.