Matterhorn

Borrowed from German Matterhorn.

• Audio (Southern England):

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Matterhorn

1. An iconic pyramidal mountain on the border of Switzerland and Italy.
2. (by extension) Something difficult to achieve or to surmount.
   • 1970 August 14, Henry J. Taylor, “Where Do We Stand Now?”, in Prescott Evening Courier:

     A second feature is the Matterhorn of inflation that dominates the scene. The average postwar recession showed a 1.4 per cent decline in industrial wholesale prices.

   • 2012, Richard Heinberg, Hedge your Bets in the Peak Oil Debate:

     Meanwhile, soaring oil prices and plummeting real energy yields from liquid fuels have already left economic carnage in their wake, as a fragile global financial system perched on a Matterhorn of debt has been dealt blow after blow by the failure of the real economy to expand as expected.

Matte (“meadow”) +‎ Horn (“peak”)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Mat‧ter‧horn

das Matterhorn n (proper noun, strong, usually definite, definite genitive des Matterhornes or des Matterhorns)

1. Matterhorn (a mountain on the border of Switzerland and Italy)