des Pudels Kern

Literally, “the poodle's core”. The phrase is taken from a scene in Faust, Part One during which a black poodle follows Faust home and transforms into a wandering scholar, who is actually Mephistopheles in disguise. Faust exclaims: "Das war also des Pudels Kern!" (“So that was the poodle's core!”); that is, "So that's what was going on inside the poodle!".

• IPA^(key): /dɛs ˈpuːdl̩s ˈkɛrn/
• Hyphenation: des Pu‧dels Kern

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des Pudels Kern m

1. the crux of the matter, the gist of the matter, the heart of the matter

   Synonym: Kern der Sache

• → Czech: jádro pudla (calque)
• → Swedish: pudelns kärna (calque)