Achilles heel

See also: Achilles' heel

English

Alternative forms

• Achilles' heel

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /əˌkɪl.iːz ˈhiːl/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Noun

Achilles heel (plural Achilles heels)

1. 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.

   • 2020 December 27, Uncle Dane, 10:54 from the start, in How To Fight Every Class In TF2 (As Engineer) (And Win!)‎^[1], archived from the original on 27 December 2020:

     It might seem counter-intuitive, but getting right up in the Demoman's face is the Achillees heel to the power of his explosives.

1. (anatomy) The Achilles tendon, the tendo Achillis.

Related terms

• Achilles
• Achilles' tendon

Translations

vulnerability in an otherwise strong situation

• Arabic: كعب أخيل m, نُقْطَة ضعف f
• Armenian: աքիլեսյան գարշապար (hy) (akʻilesyan garšapar)
• Asturian: calcañu d'Aquiles (ast) m
• Bulgarian: Ахилесова пета f (Ahilesova peta)
• Catalan: taló d'Aquil·les (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 弱項／弱项 (ruòxiàng), 死穴 (zh) (sǐxué), 軟肋／软肋 (zh) (ruǎnlèi), 阿喀琉斯之踵 (zh) (Ākāliúsī zhī zhǒng), 致命傷／致命伤 (zh) (zhìmìngshāng)

• 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, pięta achillesowa (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 (es) m
• Swedish: akilleshäl (sv) c
• Tagalog: sakong ni Akiles, sakong ni Aquiles

Achilles tendon — see Achilles tendon

See also

• chink in the armor
• feet of clay
• hamartia

Further reading

• Achilles heel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia