喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can think of taunt as someone standing just out of reach and calling something across the gap, over and over, in a laughing voice. The words are chosen to sting, and they are also a hook: the speaker is waiting to see whether you will turn round. That double purpose — to hurt, and to get a reaction — is what makes taunt different from a plain insult, and both the verb and the noun keep it.

taunt 可以想成有人站在你搆不到的地方，隔著一段距離，用帶笑的聲音一句一句喊過來。那些話是挑過的，就是要刺到你；…更多收起taunt 可以想成有人站在你搆不到的地方，隔著一段距離，用帶笑的聲音一句一句喊過來。那些話是挑過的，就是要刺到你；同時它們也是一個鉤子，說的人正在等你回頭。這個雙重目的——既想弄痛你，又想逼你有反應——就是 taunt 跟單純的辱罵不一樣的地方。動詞和名詞都保留了這一點。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary traces taunt to Middle French tanter, to tempt, try, provoke, a variant of Old French tempter, and notes it is a doublet of tempt. Trying someone to see what they will do is still inside the modern word: a taunt is bait as much as it is an insult.

依 Wiktionary，taunt 來自中古法文 tanter（試探、嘗試、挑動），是古法文 tempter 的變體，跟英文的 tempt 是同一個字分出來的兩條線。「試探對方會怎麼反應」這個味道到今天還在：一句 taunt 除了傷人，也是丟出去的餌。

Wiktionary entry for taunt, verb and noun, etymology 1 (packet source_refs kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:459471916 and 459486629)

One branch

用話刺人：動作與那句話

這兩個意思是同一個畫面的兩半：一半是喊的人在做的事，一半是被喊出來的那句話。

verb · B2

To say unkind or mocking things to someone, usually again and again, in order to make them angry or upset, or to push them into reacting.

嘲弄；出言挑釁

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。

Tauntname

  • 1

    A surname.

tauntverb詞源 1/tɔːnt/

  • 1

    To make fun of (someone); to goad (a person) into responding, often in an aggressive manner.

    • John taunts his brother to reveal his hiding spot.

tauntnoun詞源 1/tɔːnt/

  • 1

    A scornful or mocking remark; a jeer or mockery.

    • VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo.
    • The attacks and the failure to catch the killer created an atmosphere of fear and dismay throughout Yorkshire, and provoked grim taunts to the police at Leeds United football matches such as “Ripper 10, Police nil”

tauntadj詞源 2/tɔːnt/

  • 1

    obsoletenauticaltransportVery high or tall.

    • the great ships, for want of ſufficient masts, will lose the advantages the taunt masts would procure

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。