Achilles heel

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See also: Achilles' heel

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From the Greek hero Achilles, whom according to legend his mother held by the heel when she dipped him in the River Styx, making him invulnerable everywhere except on his heel. He was later killed by an arrow wound to the heel. Although the legend is ancient, the phrase only entered English in the 19th century. It is used as a metaphor for vulnerability, as in the earliest citation, an essay by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /əˌkɪl.iːz ˈhiːl/
  • Audio (Canada):(file)

Noun

Achilles heel (plural Achilles heels)

  1. A vulnerability in an otherwise strong situation.
    Synonyms: soft spot, vulnerability, weakness, weak spot, kryptonite; see also Thesaurus:weak spot
    A good all-round golfer, playing out of bunkers is my Achilles heel.
    • 2020 December 27, Uncle Dane, 10:54 from the start, in How To Fight Every Class In TF2 (As Engineer) (And Win!)‎, archived from the original on 27 December 2020:
      It might seem counter-intuitive, but getting right up in the Demoman's face is the Achillees heel to the power of his explosives.
  2. (anatomy) The Achilles tendon, the tendo Achillis.

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ Samuel Taylor Coleridge (March 1810) The friend; a literary, moral, and political weekly paper, number 26, page 431: “ Ireland, that vulnerable heel of the British Achilles!”

Further reading

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