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If someone is churlish, they are not merely shy or quiet. They are rude, , or mean-spirited in a small, tight way — unwilling to be kind when it would be easy. The word is a little literary, not playground English. A very common shape is “it would be churlish to…” meaning it would look or stingy if you refused a kindness. You might call an answer churlish, or a host churlish for not offering a chair. It is colder than angry and stronger than “not very polite.” It comes from churl, an old word for a peasant that later came to mean a rude, rough man. We hardly call anyone a churl now, but churlish stayed.
粗魯無禮的、不近人情的
組成churl + -ish (“like a churl”). From Middle English churlysshe / cherlissh, from Old English ċeorlisċ / ċierlisċ, “of or like a churl.”
同家族的字
- churlthe old noun: first a peasant, later a rude man; this adjective means ‘like that’
原始詞典資料4 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。
churlishadj/ˈtʃɜːlɪʃ/
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Of or pertaining to a serf, peasant, or rustic.
- […] the eloquence and truth of his tribute stands in marked contrast to Kramer's churlish caricature of Kael as a happy pig wallowing in the dirt.
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Rude, surly, ungracious.
- [A]nd it is without all controuerſie, that learning doth make the minds of men gentle, generous, maniable, and pliant to gouernment; whereas Ignorance makes them churliſh, thwart, and mutinous; […]
- A Churliſh Envious Curr vvas gotten into a Manger, and there lay Growling and Snarling to keep the Horſes from their Provender. The Dog Eat None himſelf, and yet rather Ventur'd the Starving his Own Carcaſe then he would ſuffer any thing elfe to be the Better for't.
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Stingy or grudging.
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Difficult to till, lacking pliancy; unmanageable.
- 1730–1774, Oliver Goldsmith, Introductory to Switzerland Where the bleak Swiss their stormy mansion tread, And force a churlish soil for scanty bread.
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。