cantankerous: [18] Cantankerous is a rather mysterious word. It first appears in the 1770s, and the earliest known reference to it is in Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer 1772: ‘There’s not a more bitter cantanckerous road in all christendom’. Its origin is disputed: perhaps the likeliest source is Middle English contekour ‘brawler’, from contek ‘strife’, a borrowing from an unrecorded Anglo-Norman *contek, but an Irish origin has also been suggested, perhaps from Irish cannrán ‘strife, grumbling’ (another early user of the word was the Irish playwright Thomas Sheridan).
cantankerous (adj.)
1772, said to be "a Wiltshire word," probably from an alteration (influenced by raucous) of Middle English contakour "troublemaker" (c. 1300), from Anglo-French contec "discord, strife," from Old French contechier (Old North French contekier), from con- "with" + teche, related to atachier "hold fast" (see attach). With -ous. Related: Cantankerously; cantankerousness.
雙語例句
1. a cantankerous old man
愛抱怨的老頭
來自《權威詞典》
2. He met a crabbed, cantankerous director.
他碰上了一位壞脾氣、愛爭吵的主管。
來自辭典例句
3. He was nothing but a narrow, ignorant, and cantankerous sea -- faring man .
他只不過是個狹隘無知 、 脾氣 暴戾 的海員而已.
來自名作英譯部分
4. Sometimes they can be cantankerous, mean - spirited, unkind, and sometimes downright cruel.
有時候,他們可能脾氣古怪, 心胸狹窄, 不友善, 有時簡直是殘酷的.
來自互聯網
5. The cantankerous bus driver rouse on the children for singing.