pain in the neck
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A person or thing that is annoying or troublesome
Literally: a hurt in the neck area
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
My little brother is such a pain in the neck
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Equivalents & related
Common questions
What does “pain in the neck” mean?
A person or thing that is annoying or troublesome Literally: a hurt in the neck area
Is “pain in the neck” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
What is the closest equivalent?
“của nợ” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.