Skip to content

Nadelöhr

bottleneck, narrow passage

noun NAH-del-oer Rare
Travel & Places Directions

Also means

eye of a needle

Usage Note

Nadelöhr in traffic and travel contexts describes a narrow passage or bottleneck where traffic or pedestrians are forced to slow down — Das Stadtzentrum ist ein Nadelöhr für den Verkehr (the town centre is a bottleneck for traffic).

Examples

"Die alte Brücke ist das eigentliche Nadelöhr auf dieser Strecke."

Natural Translation

The old bridge is the real bottleneck on this route.

Literal Translation

The old bridge is the actual needle-eye on this stretch.

Explore German by topic