IdiomBody & Senses
English
Englishthe heart of the matter
Meaning: The most important part of an issue.
Example: “The heart of the matter is that nobody was responsible for checking the accounts.”
Origin: The heart stands for the center of a thing, a use as old as English itself. Graham Greene's novel The Heart of the Matter (1948) made the phrase especially familiar.
Equivalents in other languages
German: Da liegt der Hund begraben Literally: That's where the dog is buried
Italian: qui casca l'asino Literally: Here the donkey falls
More English idioms
- put in one's two cents To give one's opinion, whether or not it was asked for.
- play cat and mouse To toy with someone one has power over.
- crunch time The decisive moment, when there is no more time left.
- blow me down An exclamation of complete surprise.
- get things back on track To bring a situation back under control after it has gone wrong.
- be in for a rude awakening To be about to discover an unpleasant truth.
Explore another collection: Untranslatable Words
Words that capture a feeling or idea English needs a whole sentence for.
- Yugen A profound, mysterious sense of the universe that is too deep for words — the feeling of…
- Koi no yokan The intuitive feeling upon first meeting someone that you will inevitably fall in love wi…
- Amae The comfortable feeling of depending on another's goodwill — leaning into someone's indul…
Keep exploring