"camel through the eye of a needle" meaning in English

See camel through the eye of a needle in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Phrase

Audio: en-au-camel through the eye of a needle.ogg [Australia]
Etymology: With reference to the New Testament, Mark 10.25, Mat. 19.24 and Luke 18.25. See the Citations page for those texts. Head templates: {{head|en|phrase}} camel through the eye of a needle
  1. (idiomatic) Hyperbole to illustrate something that is impossible to do or to make happen. Tags: idiomatic Related terms: it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God Translations (impossible): حَتَّى يَلِجَ الْجَمَلُ فِي سَمِّ الْخِيَاطِ (ḥattā yalija l-jamalu fī sammi l-ḵiyāṭi) (Arabic), kuin kamelin käydä neulansilmän lävitse [biblical, religion, lifestyle] (Finnish), faire passer un chameau par le chas d’une aiguille (French), eher geht ein Kamel durch ein Nadelöhr (German), łatwiej jest wielbłądowi przejść przez ucho igielne (Polish), deveyi hendekten atlatma daha kolaydır (Turkish)

Download JSON data for camel through the eye of a needle meaning in English (3.7kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "With reference to the New Testament, Mark 10.25, Mat. 19.24 and Luke 18.25. See the Citations page for those texts.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "camel through the eye of a needle",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Getting George to wake up before 7 o'clock is harder than getting a camel through the eye of a needle."
        },
        {
          "text": "1795, John Swanwick (as \"Snub\"), \"To WILLIAM WILCOCKS, Esquire, L. L. D. and DUke of New-York, &c.\", in A Rub from Snub; or a cursory analytical epistle, page 57, quoting Wilcocks in the first footnote.\nAlluding to the exordium of his writings againſt the democrats, wherein he ſays “ It is a difficult for a party-man to be an honeſt man, as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,” whereby he moſt emphatically declares his own diſhoneſty at the very firſt daſh of his pen."
        },
        {
          "text": "1825, \"Sir H. L.\", in The Political Correspondence of the Leading Members of Parliament with the the Speaker of the House of Commons on Emancipation, James Bigg (publ.), page 83.\nYou are endeavouring to pass a bill that never can and that never will pass the House of Lords. Do you want to make a camel go through the eye of a needle?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Hyperbole to illustrate something that is impossible to do or to make happen."
      ],
      "id": "en-camel_through_the_eye_of_a_needle-en-phrase-~tuAEc4M",
      "links": [
        [
          "Hyperbole",
          "hyperbole#English"
        ],
        [
          "illustrate",
          "illustrate#English"
        ],
        [
          "impossible",
          "impossible"
        ],
        [
          "happen",
          "happen"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Hyperbole to illustrate something that is impossible to do or to make happen."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "roman": "ḥattā yalija l-jamalu fī sammi l-ḵiyāṭi",
          "sense": "impossible",
          "word": "حَتَّى يَلِجَ الْجَمَلُ فِي سَمِّ الْخِيَاطِ"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "impossible",
          "topics": [
            "biblical",
            "religion",
            "lifestyle"
          ],
          "word": "kuin kamelin käydä neulansilmän lävitse"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "impossible",
          "word": "faire passer un chameau par le chas d’une aiguille"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "impossible",
          "word": "eher geht ein Kamel durch ein Nadelöhr"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "impossible",
          "word": "łatwiej jest wielbłądowi przejść przez ucho igielne"
        },
        {
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "impossible",
          "word": "deveyi hendekten atlatma daha kolaydır"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-camel through the eye of a needle.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/de/En-au-camel_through_the_eye_of_a_needle.ogg/En-au-camel_through_the_eye_of_a_needle.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/En-au-camel_through_the_eye_of_a_needle.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "camel through the eye of a needle"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "With reference to the New Testament, Mark 10.25, Mat. 19.24 and Luke 18.25. See the Citations page for those texts.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "camel through the eye of a needle",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrases",
        "English terms derived from the Bible",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Getting George to wake up before 7 o'clock is harder than getting a camel through the eye of a needle."
        },
        {
          "text": "1795, John Swanwick (as \"Snub\"), \"To WILLIAM WILCOCKS, Esquire, L. L. D. and DUke of New-York, &c.\", in A Rub from Snub; or a cursory analytical epistle, page 57, quoting Wilcocks in the first footnote.\nAlluding to the exordium of his writings againſt the democrats, wherein he ſays “ It is a difficult for a party-man to be an honeſt man, as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,” whereby he moſt emphatically declares his own diſhoneſty at the very firſt daſh of his pen."
        },
        {
          "text": "1825, \"Sir H. L.\", in The Political Correspondence of the Leading Members of Parliament with the the Speaker of the House of Commons on Emancipation, James Bigg (publ.), page 83.\nYou are endeavouring to pass a bill that never can and that never will pass the House of Lords. Do you want to make a camel go through the eye of a needle?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Hyperbole to illustrate something that is impossible to do or to make happen."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Hyperbole",
          "hyperbole#English"
        ],
        [
          "illustrate",
          "illustrate#English"
        ],
        [
          "impossible",
          "impossible"
        ],
        [
          "happen",
          "happen"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Hyperbole to illustrate something that is impossible to do or to make happen."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-camel through the eye of a needle.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/de/En-au-camel_through_the_eye_of_a_needle.ogg/En-au-camel_through_the_eye_of_a_needle.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/En-au-camel_through_the_eye_of_a_needle.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "roman": "ḥattā yalija l-jamalu fī sammi l-ḵiyāṭi",
      "sense": "impossible",
      "word": "حَتَّى يَلِجَ الْجَمَلُ فِي سَمِّ الْخِيَاطِ"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "impossible",
      "topics": [
        "biblical",
        "religion",
        "lifestyle"
      ],
      "word": "kuin kamelin käydä neulansilmän lävitse"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "impossible",
      "word": "faire passer un chameau par le chas d’une aiguille"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "impossible",
      "word": "eher geht ein Kamel durch ein Nadelöhr"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "impossible",
      "word": "łatwiej jest wielbłądowi przejść przez ucho igielne"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "impossible",
      "word": "deveyi hendekten atlatma daha kolaydır"
    }
  ],
  "word": "camel through the eye of a needle"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.