IdiomBody & Senses
Hebrew
Hebrewשבר את הראש (shavar et harosh)
Meaning: To rack your brains over something.
Literally: To break your head
Example: “שברתי את הראש על החידה הזאת כל הערב.” — I racked my brain over that riddle all evening.
English equivalent: To rack one's brain
Equivalents in other languages
Lithuanian: Sukti galvą Literally: To twist your head
English: rack one's brain
Origin: Breaking one's head over a problem is thinking about it so hard that it hurts. Modern Hebrew uses the phrase for racking one's brains, and shover rosh (head-breaker) for a puzzle. No particular story lies behind it.
More Hebrew idioms
- יצא מכליו (Yatsa miklav) To lose your temper; to be beside yourself.
- חבל על הזמן (Ḥaval ʿal ha-zman) Amazing, fantastic — though it literally means 'a waste of time'.
- על הפנים (al hapanim) Terrible, awful, in a wretched state.
- לאכול סרטים (Le'ekhol sratim) To overthink and imagine dramatic worst-case scenarios.
- קופצים על המציאה (Kofsim al hamtsi'a) To seize a great opportunity at once.
- תפסת מרובה לא תפסת (Tafasta merubah lo tafasta) Overreach for too much and you end up with nothing.
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Words that look familiar in another language but mean something else entirely.
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