- 1騙子、詐術之人；（故事裡的）搗蛋鬼、機智耍詐的角色
A trickster is someone who fools or cheats other people, usually by being quick and clever with words rather than by threatening anyone. But the word rarely sounds purely bad, and that is worth noticing. In stories and folk tales all over the world — the monkey, the fox, the clever servant — the trickster is a beloved character who wins by wit against someone bigger and stronger. Because of that, calling a real person a trickster often mixes with a kind of admiration: he cheated me, but you have to admit he was smart. If you want to say that someone stole money by lying, the ordinary words are con man, scammer, or ; trickster sounds more literary and less angry. The word also appears as a proper term in the study of myths and stories, where 'the trickster' names a whole type of character. There is a rare verb use, 'to trickster', but students will almost never meet it and should not use it.
組成trick + -ster. The ending -ster is very old — Old English -estre, through Middle English -estere — and marks a person who habitually does something.
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，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。
tricksternoun/ˈtɹɪk.stə/
- 1
human-sciencesliteraturemediaAny of numerous figures featuring in various mythologies and folk traditions, who use guile and secret knowledge to challenge authority and play tricks and pranks on others with their acts of trickery; any similar figure in literature.
- 1991, Alan R. Velie (compiler and editor), American Indian Literature: An Anthology, Revised edition, page 44, The trickster is one of the oldest and most widespread of mythological and literary figures. […] As the name implies, the trickster is, on one level—probably the most important—an amoral practical joker who wanders about playing pranks on unsuspecting victims […] With all the fluctuations, certain things about the trickster are predictable: he is always a wanderer, always hungry, and usually oversexed. Tricksters abound in folktales […] .
- And let us begin with those sympathetic elements, the tricksters who obtain the lovers and the land, always at the expense of fools and knaves, sometimes at the expense of other tricksters.
- 2
One who plays tricks or pranks on others.
- A skilled trickster knows how to outsmart their enemies with ease.
- 3
One who performs tricks (parts of a magician act or entertainingly difficult physical actions).
- Our fellow trickster will perform some impressive magic tricks tonight.
- 4
An impish or playful person.
- 5
A fraud or cheat (person who performs a trick or hoax full of falsehoods for the purpose of unlawful gain).
- That shady trickster faked being a psychic advisor to spread misinformation and gain profit.
- She's easy game for a trickster like him.
tricksterverb/ˈtɹɪk.stə/
- 1
To engage in the antics of a trickster; to play tricks.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。