eli5 How does the phrase “We got our work cut out for us” make sense?

Question

I always thought it did/should mean that the work was gonna be easy since it was cut *out* but apparently it means the work is gonna be hard and I don’t understand how it makes sense

In: 2

Answer 1

The term “cut out” means it has been identified or made clear. The phrase is taken to mean “we’re going to have to do this entire thing (that is cut out or identified) by ourselves”