hit the nail on the head

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Verb

hit the nail on the head

1. (idiomatic) To identify something exactly; to arrive at exactly the right answer.

   He hit the nail on the head when he said the problem was the thermostat.

Synonyms

• nail the hammer on the head (rare)
• nail it

Translations

identify something exactly

• Catalan: justa la fusta
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 一針見血／一针见血 (zh) (yīzhēnjiànxiě), 一针见血 (zh) (yīzhēnjiànxiě) (draw blood on the first prick)

• Czech: uhodit hřebíček na hlavičku, udeřit hřebíček na hlavičku
• Danish: ramme hovedet på sømmet
• Dutch: de spijker op de kop slaan
• Finnish: osua naulan kantaan
• French: faire mouche (fr)
• German: den Nagel auf den Kopf treffen (de), ins Schwarze treffen (de)
• Hungarian: fején találja a szöget (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: hitta naglann á höfuðið, eiga kollgátuna, hitta í mark, koma orðum að kjarna máls, tilgreina kjarna máls
• Italian: colpire nel segno
• Latin: rem acū tangō, acū tangō
• Lithuanian: durti kaip pirštu į akį (prick as finger in the eye)
• Polish: trafić w sedno pf
• Portuguese: acertar em cheio
• Russian: попа́сть не в бровь, а в глаз (popástʹ ne v brovʹ, a v glaz) (hit not the brow but the eye), попа́сть в то́чку (popástʹ v tóčku) (hit the spot)
• Spanish: dar en el blanco, dar en el clavo
• Swedish: slå huvudet på spiken (sv)

See also

• on the dot
• on the nose