
IdiomDaily Life
English
make heads or tails of something
Meaning: To understand something.
Example: “I can't make heads or tails of these assembly instructions.”
Equivalents in other languages
French: Perdre son latin Literally: To lose one's Latin
Origin: Probably from coin tossing, where one needs to see which side is heads and which tails; or simply from telling the front of an animal from its back. The phrase is found from the 17th century, almost always in the negative.
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