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Stiff-necked describes a person who is too proud to listen, change their mind, or do as they are told. It is an adjective, always written with a , and it is used before a noun ("a stiff-necked old man") or after be ("they were stiff-necked"). The picture inside it is a neck that will not bend — you cannot bow your head, so you cannot show respect or admit you were wrong.
Stiff-neckedStiff-necked describes a person形容一個人 who is too proud to listen, change their mind, or do as they are told太驕傲，聽不進別人的話、不肯改變心意，也不肯照別人說的做 It is an adjective它是形容詞 always written with a hyphen一定要加連字號 and it is used before a noun ("a stiff-necked old man")可以放在名詞前面（'a stiff-necked old man'） or after be ("they were stiff-necked")或放在be動詞後面（'they were stiff-necked'） The picture inside it這個字裡的畫面 is a neck that will not bend是一條彎不下去的脖子 you cannot bow your head你沒辦法低頭 so you cannot show respect or admit you were wrong所以沒辦法表示尊重，也沒辦法承認自己錯了
It is a criticism, and a fairly heavy, formal, old-sounding one. You meet it most in religious language, in history writing, and in serious speeches; in ordinary conversation people say stubborn, pig-headed, or arrogant instead.
It is a criticism這是一種批評 and a fairly heavy, formal, old-sounding one而且是相當重、正式、聽起來很old的批評 You meet it most in religious language, in history writing, and in serious speeches你最常在宗教語言、歷史寫作和正式演講裡遇到它 in ordinary conversation people say stubborn, pig-headed, or arrogant instead日常對話裡，大家會改說stubborn、pig-headed或arrogant
The religious flavour is not an accident: the phrase came into English from the Bible, where a whole people is called stiff-necked for refusing to obey God, so the word still carries a note of moral judgement — not just "won't change" but " won't change." Note that it is not about the body.
The religious flavour is not an accident這種宗教味不是偶然的 the phrase came into English from the Bible這個說法是從聖經來的 where a whole people is called stiff-necked for refusing to obey God裡面整個民族因為不肯服從神而被稱為stiff-necked so the word still carries a note of moral judgement所以這個字到現在還帶著道德批判的意味 not just "won't change" but "wrongly won't change."不只是「不肯改變」，而是「不該不肯改變卻硬是不改變」 Note that it is not about the body要注意，這跟身體沒有關係
If your neck actually hurts, you say "I have a stiff neck" (two words, no ), which is a completely different, everyday thing.
If your neck actually hurts如果你的脖子真的在痛 you say "I have a stiff neck"要說'I have a stiff neck' (two words, no hyphen)（兩個字，沒有連字號） which is a completely different, everyday thing這是完全不同的日常用法
組成stiff + neck + -ed — literally "having a stiff neck", one that will not bend to bow. In the figurative sense it is a calque (a word-for-word copy) of Hebrew קשה ערף, from Exodus 33. Many languages copied the same image: Swedish styvnackad, Ancient Greek σκληροτράχηλος, Russian жестоковыйный, German halsstarrig.
同家族的字
- stiffthe same adjective, meaning hard to bend
- neckthe same body part, used here as a picture of pride
- bad-temperedbuilt the same way — adjective + noun + -ed, describing what a person has
- kind-heartedthe same adjective + noun + -ed pattern
原始詞典資料2 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。
stiff-neckedadj
- 1
Having a stiff neck; suffering from torticollis
- 2
Stubborn and arrogant.
- For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.
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。