喜樂美語

核心畫面

The picture at the bottom of this word is an animal: a female dog. That is the oldest meaning and still the technical one, used every day by breeders and vets with no meant. Everything else can be read as that animal being pointed at something: at a person, when a speaker wants to place them below human beings; at a job or a journey, when the thing keeps snapping at you and will not let go; and at a voice, when someone complains on and on the way a dog barks on and on. Knowing that one animal sits underneath is what makes the scattered meanings hold together — and it is also why the word hits so hard when it is aimed at a person.

這個字最底下可以想成一隻動物：母狗。那是最古老的意思，今天在育種和獸醫的世界裡仍然是中性的術語。其他所有用法，都可以…更多收起這個字最底下可以想成一隻動物：母狗。那是最古老的意思，今天在育種和獸醫的世界裡仍然是中性的術語。其他所有用法，都可以看成把這隻動物指向某個對象。指向人，是說話的人想把對方壓到人以下。指向一件事，是那件事像狗一樣一直咬著你不放。指向一種聲音，是有人像狗吠一樣唸個沒完。知道底下坐著這隻動物，散開的意思就串得起來，也就明白為什麼這個字罵到人身上會那麼痛。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary traces the word to Middle English biche and Old English biċċe, from Proto-Germanic *bikjǭ 'female dog', and notes it is related to bicker.

維基詞典記載這個字來自中古英語 biche、古英語 biċċe，再往上是原始日耳曼語 *bikjǭ（母狗），並且跟 bicker（拌嘴）有關聯。也就是說，「母狗」不只是這個字的一個意思，而是它一開始就有的意思，後面的用法全都是後來長出來的。

Wiktionary entry supplied in this packet (kaikki snapshot 3f6f69a190036ae4), etymology_text for bitch (noun and verb).

Four branches

本義：那隻動物

這一支就是核心畫面本身，也是唯一一個沒有情緒的用法。

noun · B2

A female dog, and also the female of some other animals in the dog family, such as a fox or a wolf. This is the word's oldest and plainest meaning.

母狗

把這隻動物指向一個人

拿動物名去叫人，各種語言都有，中文的「畜生」是同一個動作。這一支底下三個用法差在「說對方哪裡不好」：太兇、太軟、或什麼都沒說只是指稱。

noun · B2

A rude and insulting word for a person, most often a woman, who is seen as unkind, unpleasant, or hard to deal with. Friends also throw it at each other as a joke, and then it is not meant to wound.

賤人（罵人的話）

指向一件咬著你不放的事

這裡沒有在罵人。可以想成那件事像一隻咬住褲管的狗，不特別危險，但就是甩不掉、很磨人。

noun · B2

Something that is very hard, annoying, or unpleasant to deal with — a job, a task, a situation. Common shapes are 'a bitch to do something' and 'a bitch of a something'.

超難搞的事

指向一個唸個不停的聲音（動詞）

可以想成狗吠：不是一聲，是一直叫。動詞用法的重點都在「持續」和「討人厭」，而介系詞決定聲音的方向。

verb · B2

To complain again and again, in a way that tires or annoys the people who have to listen. Often 'stop bitching', or 'bitch at someone' when the complaining is aimed straight at them.

抱怨個不停

原始詞典資料20 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

bitchnoun/bɪt͡ʃ/

  • 1

    A female dog or other canine, particularly a recent mother.

    • My bitch just had puppies; they're so cute!
    • He had three pet bitches with him.
  • 2

    offensivearchaicA promiscuous woman, slut, whore.

  • 3

    vulgaroffensiveA despicable or disagreeable, aggressive person, usually a woman.

    • Near-synonyms: cunt (vulgar, offensive); see also Thesaurus:jerk
    • Ann spread rumors about me; she's such a bitch.
  • 4

    vulgarslangA woman in general.

    • Biggie, remember when I used to let you sleep on the couch, and beg the bitch to let you sleep in the house?
    • Niggas on my dick more than my bitches.
  • 5

    vulgaroffensiveA man considered soft, effeminate, weak, timid or pathetic in some way

  • 6

    vulgaroffensivederogatoryA man considered soft, effeminate, weak, timid or pathetic in some way

  • 7

    vulgaroffensiveA submissive person who does what others want; (prison slang) a man forced or coerced into a homosexual relationship.

    • Dude, don't be a bitch. Assert yourself.
    • You're so weak-willed with your girlfriend. You must be the real bitch in the relationship.
  • 8

    vulgarA complaint, especially when the complaint is unjustified.

另外 9 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    vulgarSomething unforgiving and unpleasant.

    • […] he wrote to me last week telling me about an incredible bitch of a row blazing there on account of someone having been and gone and produced an unofficial magazine called Raddled, full of obscene libellous Oz-like filth. And what I thought, what Sammy and I thought, was – why not?
    • Karma's a bitch.
  • 10

    vulgarA difficult or confounding problem.

    • That level was a real bitch, don’t you think?
    • That's a bitch of a question.
  • 11

    vulgarslangFriend.

    • What’s up, bitch?
    • How my bitches been doin'?
  • 12

    vulgarPlace; situation

    • I'm 'bout to get up outta this bitch.
  • 13

    vulgarderogatoryslangA female sexual partner, typically in casual sexual relations

  • 14

    vulgarderogatoryslangA female sexual partner, typically in casual sexual relations

  • 15

    vulgarslangboard-gamescard-gameschessA queen playing card or chess piece.

  • 16

    obsoleteinformalA playful variation on dog (sense "man").

  • 17

    obsoleteTea (the drink).

    • […] seldom gets "a little the worse for liquor," gives no swell parties, runs very little into debt, takes his cup of bitch at night, and goes quietly to bed, and thus he passes his time in a way a Varmint man would despise.

bitchverb/bɪt͡ʃ/

  • 1

    vulgarTo behave or act as a bitch; especially, to complain excessively.

  • 2

    vulgarTo complain or criticize spitefully, often for the sake of complaining rather than in order to have the problem corrected.

    • All you ever do is bitch about the food I cook for you!
    • All you ever do is bitch at me!
  • 3

    vulgarTo spoil, to ruin.

    • 'You're a Franco-maniac…You're thought to be a French agent…That's what's bitching your career!'
    • "Shy Smile didn't pay off." "I know. The jockey bitched it. So what?"

資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。