喜樂美語

核心畫面

One way to hold this word: a short, low click made at the back of the mouth, repeated in small bursts. It is quiet. It is not a cry or a shout — it is the sort of sound that only carries a few steps. The hen in the yard makes it while she feeds, and a person makes almost the same sound by pulling the tongue off the roof of the mouth. Everything the word does grows out of that one small click.

這個字可以想成一個畫面：嘴巴後方發出的一小聲短短的、低低的「咯」，而且常常連著好幾下。它很小聲，傳不遠，不是叫喊。院…更多收起這個字可以想成一個畫面：嘴巴後方發出的一小聲短短的、低低的「咯」，而且常常連著好幾下。它很小聲，傳不遠，不是叫喊。院子裡的母雞一邊啄食一邊這樣叫；人把舌頭從上顎彈開時，發出的聲音也很接近。cluck 的各種用法，都可以想成從這一小聲長出來的。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary traces cluck to Middle English clokken and Old English cloccian (to cluck, to make a noise), described there as of imitative origin, with cognates such as Dutch klokken and German glucken. The word was built to sound like the noise, which is why the sound is the centre of the word.

依據 Wiktionary 的記載，cluck 來自中古英語 clokken、古英語 cloccian（咯咯叫、發出聲響），並註明是擬聲來源，荷蘭語 klokken、德語 glucken 都是同源字。也就是說，這個字一開始就是照著聲音造的，所以「聲音」本身就是它的中心，其他用法都是從這一聲延伸出去的。

Wiktionary (kaikki extract in evidence packet), source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:871824851 / :871839992

Three branches

母雞的咯咯聲

這一組就是那一小聲本身最原始的出處：真的雞、真的聲音。動詞寫「牠在叫」，名詞寫「那個聲音」，是同一個畫面的兩種切法。

verb · B2

If a hen clucks, it makes the short, low, throaty sound that chickens make again and again — while they walk about, while they feed, and when a mother hen is calling her chicks to her.

咯咯叫

人用舌頭發出的那一聲

人把舌頭從上顎彈開時，發出的聲音跟母雞那一聲很像，所以同一個字被借過來寫人。這是聲音上的聯想，不是說人的動作源自雞。

verb · B2

To make a short, low click with your tongue, or to say something in that same tone, to show that you feel sorry for someone or that you do not approve of something.

咂嘴（表示不贊同或心疼）

罵人笨（只在固定說法裡）

英文常把雞當成「呆頭呆腦」的形象，所以用雞的聲音去指人，可以想成是從這個聯想來的。要注意這是一種文化聯想，不是字義上的必然。

noun · C1

A stupid person. The word carries this meaning only inside the fixed expression a dumb cluck or a stupid cluck, and the source marks it as American English.

笨蛋（用於 dumb/stupid cluck）

原始詞典資料9 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。

Cluckname

  • 1

    A surname.

clucknoun/klʌk/

  • 1

    The sound made by a hen, especially when brooding, or calling her chicks.

  • 2

    Any sound similar to this.

  • 3

    A kind of tongue click used to urge on a horse.

  • 4

    A setting hen.

cluckverb/klʌk/

  • 1

    To make low clicking sounds (refers to hens).

    • "I came across him once," he continued, "when he was playing down on the main road to Skaug; there he sat in the middle of the road with a lot of hens around him, I counted seven, and there were more round about in the wood, for I heard them clucking and calling behind every bush."
  • 2

    To cause (the tongue) to make a clicking sound.

    • My mother clucked her tongue in disapproval.
  • 3

    To call together, or call to follow, as a hen does her chickens.

    • When she, poor hen, fond of no second brood, Has clucked thee to the wars and safely home.
  • 4

    To suffer withdrawal from heroin.

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。