a hard nut to crack
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
A difficult question to answer; a hard problem to solve. He who would eat the nut must first crack the shell. The gods give nothing to man without great labour.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “a hard nut to crack” mean?
A difficult question to answer; a hard problem to solve. He who would eat the nut must first crack the shell. The gods give nothing to man without great labour.
Is “a hard nut to crack” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.