heads or tails

American  

noun

1. a gambling game in which a coin is tossed, the winner being the player who guesses which side of the coin will face up when it lands or is caught.

2. the tossing of a coin in this manner to determine a question or choice.

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heads or tails Idioms  

1. An expression used when tossing a coin to decide between two alternatives, as in Let's just flip a coin to decide who pays—do you want heads or tails? Each person involved chooses a different side of the coin, either “heads” or “tails,” and whichever side lands facing up is considered the winner. This usage, dating from the late 1600s, is sometimes turned into Heads I win, tails you lose, meaning “I win no matter what,” which probably originated in an attempt to deceive someone. [Mid-1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of heads or tails

First recorded in 1675–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

heads or tails

And flipping a coin on heads, or tails, 24 times in a row has odds of one in 16.7 million.

From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026

The iPhone Clean Up tool did OK with the grass, but couldn’t make heads or tails of the tents in the background.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025

Let’s start by considering our hypothetical quantum system that can, when observed, come up either heads or tails.

From Scientific American ● May 22, 2023

If you can make heads or tails out what he's trying to say there, good luck to you.

From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2023

Slivers of gray fish pickled in white glue, smoked fish with yellow eyes that bulged, raw red fish without heads or tails.

From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord

Related Words

• advantage
• break
• future
• hit
• lot
• odds
• outcome
• risk