- 1
A harridan is a bad-tempered, sharp, unpleasant woman — the kind of person a story paints as always , never kind. It is an insult, and an old-fashioned one. You will almost never hear it in ordinary talk now. It turns up in older novels, in period drama, or when a writer wants a nasty, slightly literary jab. Though actually, it was never a fair or neutral word even when it was more common: it is used only of women, never of men, and it a whole person into “difficult” because she is not sweet. It is closer to “a fierce woman people are a little afraid of” than to a careful description. Do not use it about someone real; it will sound both rude and oddly dated.
悍婦、潑婦；口語也有人說母夜叉
組成It does not split into English pieces. It perhaps comes from French haridelle, a tired old horse or nag — the unkind idea of a worn-out creature transferred onto a woman. That “perhaps” is honest: the French link is likely, not a sure paperwork trail.
原始詞典資料1 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。
harridannoun/ˈhæɹ.ɪ.dən/
- 1
A vicious and scolding woman, especially an older one.
- Why is that tattling old harridan, Peggy O'Dowd, to make free with my name at her d—d supper-table, and advertise my engagement over the three kingdoms?
- Well there was one old lady, and a drunken old harridan she was surely, that paid all her attention to me.
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。