make head or tail of

English

Alternative forms

• make heads or tails of (US)

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

make head or tail of (third-person singular simple present makes head or tail of, present participle making head or tail of, simple past and past participle made head or tail of)

1. (idiomatic, chiefly in the negative, with can't/cannot) To understand even minimally.

   Antonyms: make head nor tail of, make neither head nor tail of

   See if you can make head or tail of the last section in this chapter. I'm baffled.

   He was unable to make head or tail of some of the pattern-solving puzzles in the IQ test.

2. To determine to be good or bad.

Translations

understand even minimally

• Catalan: no té ni cap ni peus (literally “it has neither head nor feet”)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: to nedává ani hlavu ani patu (only negative)
• Finnish: ei päätä eikä häntää, ei löytää päätä eikä häntää (always negative), ymmärtää mitään, ymmärtää ollenkaan
• French: ^{(please verify)} y comprendre quelque chose (affirmative), ^{(please verify)} ne rien y comprendre (negative), ^{(please verify)} n’avoir ni queue ni tête (fr) (only negative)
• German: sich einen Reim darauf machen
• Hungarian: kihámoz/kihoz belőle (valamit), eligazodik (rajta), kiokoskodik (hu), zöld ágra vergődik (vele), (normally in the negative) egy szót/kukkot (se/sem) ért belőle, (in the negative) se füle, se farka (nincs a számára)
• Italian: venirne a capo
• Polish: połapać się pf, siedzieć jak na tureckim kazaniu (pl) impf
• Scottish Gaelic: dèan bun no bàrr
• Spanish: sacar lo que el negro del sermón (es), no ver ni pies ni cabeza a, no encontrar ni pies ni cabeza a

See also

• coin toss
• heads or tails
• rhyme or reason