Holzweg

logging track, forest timber road

noun HOLTS-vek Rare

Also means

auf dem Holzweg sein: to be on the wrong track

Usage Note

Holzweg literally is a forest track used to haul timber — it leads nowhere useful for a traveller (it dead-ends at a logging site). Hence the idiom auf dem Holzweg sein (to be on the wrong track/completely mistaken), which is far more common than the literal sense in modern German.

Examples

"Mit dieser Annahme bist du völlig auf dem Holzweg."

Natural Translation

You're completely on the wrong track with that assumption.

Literal Translation

With this assumption you are completely on the logging-track.

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