“Look for a needle in a haystack”in other languages
Search for something you have almost no chance of finding.
English
French
German
Spanish
EnglishFrenchGermanSpanishSame idea, different pictures
All four languages share the same needle and the same hay, a rare idiom that travels almost word for word. The image is old: Thomas More already used it in 1532.
Only the hay changes shape. French looks in a botte de foin, a bundle, German in a heap, Heuhaufen, and Spanish in a pajar, the barn or loft where the straw is stored.
More sayings in other languages
- Neither fish nor fowl
- Neither here nor there
- When pigs fly
- Nip something in the bud
- No bed of roses
- No contest
- No pain, no gain
- No sweat
- Be at one's wits' end