needle in a haystack

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

needle in a haystack (plural needles in a haystack or needles in haystacks)

1. (idiomatic) Something that is difficult or impossible to locate.

   You'll never find the paper you need on her desk. You're looking for a needle in a haystack.

Translations

idiomatic

Arabic: إِبْرَةٌ فِي كَوْمَةِ قَشٍّ f (ʔibratun fī kawmati qaššin) Catalan: cercar una agulla en un paller, buscar una agulla en un paller, agulla en un paller Chinese: Mandarin: 大海撈針 / 大海捞针 (zh) (dàhǎilāozhēn) (verb or verbal noun), 海底撈針 / 海底捞针 (zh) (hǎidǐlāozhēn) Czech: jehla v kupce sena f Dutch: naald in een hooiberg Finnish: neula heinäsuovassa French: chercher une aiguille dans une botte de foin (fr) (verb) German: Nadel im Heuhaufen f Greek: βελόνα στ’ άχυρο f (velóna st’ áchyro), ψύλλους στ’ άχυρο m pl (psýllous st’ áchyro) Hebrew: מַחַט בַּעֲרֵמָת שַׁחַת (he) (máẖat ba'aremát sháẖat) Hungarian: tű a szénakazalban (hu) Icelandic: saumnál í heystakki f Irish: táilliúir i mbruth faoi thír m Italian: ago in un pagliaio m Japanese: 干し草の山の針 (ほしくさのやまのはり, hoshikusa-no yama-no hari) Macedonian: и́гла во стог се́но (ígla vo stog séno) Polish: igła w stogu siana f Portuguese: agulha num palheiro Romanian: acul în carul cu fân n Russian: иго́лка в сто́ге се́на f (igólka v stóge séna), иска́ть иго́лку в сто́ге се́на (ru) (iskátʹ igólku v stóge séna) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ѝгла у пла̑сту сије̑на f / ѝгла у пла̑сту се̑на f Roman: ìgla u plȃstu sijȇna f / ìgla u plȃstu sȇna f Spanish: aguja en un pajar (es) Swedish: nål i en höstack Turkish: samanlıkta iğne

References

• usingenglish.com idioms reference
• thefreedictionary.com definition