back to square one

Etymology
Probably from a metaphorical use of the children’s games snakes and ladders.

Adjective

 * 1)  Located back at the start, as after a dead end or failure.
 * After spending six hours on the intake we realized that there was nothing wrong with it, so we are back to square one.

Translations

 * Dutch: terug naar af
 * French: de retour à la case départ
 * German: Alles auf Anfang, zurück auf Feld eins
 * Indonesian: kembali ke awal, balik ke awal
 * Italian: essere punto e a capo
 * Polish: na punkcie wyjścia
 * Portuguese: voltar à estaca zero
 * Russian: ,
 * Swedish: tillbaka till ruta ett
 * Tagalog: balik sa umpisa

Adverb

 * 1)  Back to the start, as after a dead end or failure.
 * After spending six hours on the intake we realized that there was nothing wrong with it, so we went back to square one.

Translations

 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 回到原點
 * Dutch: terug naar af
 * Finnish: takaisin lähtöruutuun
 * French: de retour à la case départ,
 * Indonesian: kembali ke awal, balik ke awal
 * Polish: na punkcie wyjścia