Achilles heel

See also: Achilles' heel

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Achilles' heel

Etymology edit

From the Greek hero Achilles, whom according to legend his mother held by the heel when she dipped him in the River Styx, making him invulnerable everywhere except on his heel. He was later killed by an arrow wound to the heel.

Although the legend is ancient, the phrase only entered English in the 19th century. It is used as a metaphor for vulnerability, as in the earliest citation, an essay by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.^[1]

Pronunciation edit

(UK, US) IPA^(key): /əˌkɪl.iːz ˈhiːl/
Audio (CA) (file)

Noun edit

Achilles heel (plural Achilles heels)

A vulnerability in an otherwise strong situation.
Synonyms: soft spot, vulnerability, weakness, weak spot, kryptonite; see also Thesaurus:weak spot

A good all-round golfer, playing out of bunkers is my Achilles heel.
(anatomy) The Achilles tendon, the tendo Achillis.

Related terms edit

Translations edit

vulnerability in an otherwise strong situation

Arabic: كعب أخيل‎ m, نُقْطَة ضعف‎ f
Armenian: աքիլեսյան գարշապար (hy) (akʿilesyan garšapar)
Asturian: calcañu d'Aquiles (ast) m
Bulgarian: Ахилесова пета f (Ahilesova peta)
Catalan: taló d'Aquil·les m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 弱項／弱项 (ruòxiàng), 軟肋／软肋 (zh) (ruǎnlèi), 阿喀琉斯之踵 (Ākāliúsī zhī zhǒng), 致命要害
Czech: Achilova pata f
Danish: akilleshæl (da) c
Dutch: achilleshiel (nl)
Finnish: akilleenkantapää (fi)
French: talon d’Achille (fr) m
Galician: talón de Aquiles m
Georgian: აქილევსის ქუსლი (akilevsis kusli)
German: Achillesferse (de) f
Greek: αχίλλειος πτέρνα (el) f (achílleios ptérna)
Hungarian: Achilles-sarok
Interlingua: calce de Achilles, talon de Achilles
Italian: tallone di Achille, tallone d'Achille m
Japanese: アキレス腱 (ja) (Akiresuken)
Korean: 아킬레스 건 (akilleseu geon)
Macedonian: Ахилова пета f (Ahilova peta)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: akilleshæl (no) m

Nynorsk: akilleshæl m
Persian: پاشنه آشیل‎ (pâšne-ye âšil)
Polish: pięta Achillesa (pl) f
Portuguese: calcanhar de Aquiles (pt) m
Romanian: călcâiul lui Ahile (ro) n
Russian: ахилле́сова пята́ (ru) f (axillésova pjatá)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: Ахилова пета f

Roman: Ahilova peta f
Spanish: talón de Aquiles m
Swedish: akilleshäl (sv) c
Tagalog: sakong ni Akiles, sakong ni Aquiles

Achilles tendon — see Achilles tendon

References edit

^ Samuel Taylor Coleridge (March 1810) The friend; a literary, moral, and political weekly paper, issue 26, page 431: “ […] Ireland, that vulnerable heel of the British Achilles!”