• n. 流浪者；流浪兒；飄流物；無主物；信號旗

來自PIE*weip,搖動，搖擺，詞源同wipe,vibrate。引申詞義漂浮物，無主物，走偏的動物等，后主要指無家可歸的小孩，流浪兒。

waif (n.)

late 14c., "unclaimed property, flotsam, stray animal," from Anglo-French waif (13c., Old French guaif) "ownerless property, something lost;" as an adjective, "not claimed, outcast, abandoned," probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse veif "waving thing, flag," from Proto-Germanic *waif-, from PIE *weip- "to turn, vacillate, tremble ecstatically" (see vibrate). Compare Medieval Latin waivium "thing thrown away by a thief in flight." A Scottish/northern English parallel form was wavenger (late 15c.).

Meaning "person (especially a child) without home or friends" first attested 1784, from legal phrase waif and stray (1620s), from the adjective in the sense "lost, strayed, homeless." Neglected children being uncommonly thin, the word tended toward this sense. Connotations of "fashionable, small, slender woman" began 1991 with application to childishly slim supermodels such as Kate Moss.

1. The director wants a waif-like, teenage girl with long, dark hair for the role.

導演想要一個留著烏黑的長發、面黃肌瘦的十來歲女孩扮演這個角色。

來自柯林斯例句

2. Maybe I should play this needy, despondent waif card more often.

也許我應該用用這個迷惑, 多需求的招牌.

來自電影對白

3. Found a helpless waif.

他還是無助的嬰孩.

來自互聯網

4. A waif is begging on the street.

街上有一個流浪兒正在乞討.

來自互聯網

5. They looked thin, waif - like and starved.

他們瘦骨伶仃,像流浪兒似的餓得半死.

來自互聯網