喜樂美語
  1. 1弱者、體弱的人；（帶輕蔑）孬種、軟腳蝦

    A weakling is a person or animal that is not strong. The main picture is the body — a thin child who cannot lift the box, the smallest puppy in the litter who cannot push in to feed. It is an insult, and it usually comes from the world of boys, gyms and playgrounds, where old advertisements used to promise to turn the 'ninety-pound weakling' into a muscular man. Because of that history it carries a whiff of bullying, and it is a favourite word of the person doing the bullying. People also stretch it beyond the body: a leader with no power, a country with no army, a currency losing value can all be called a weakling, and here the point is 'small and unable to fight back'. Like and , it can be used of character too — someone who cannot bear pain or difficulty. It is usually spoken, and rather informal. Note that -ling in English often adds a feeling of 'small and pitiable': , , .

組成weak + -ling, an old ending meaning 'a small one of this kind' — so 'a small weak one'.

同家族的字

  • ducklingsame -ling ending: a small duck
  • underlingsame -ling ending: a person low down under someone else
  • weakensame 'weak' root + -en, 'to make weak'
  • weaknesssame 'weak' root + -ness, the state of being weak

原始詞典資料3 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。

weaklingnoun/ˈwiːkˈlɪŋɡ/

  • 1

    A person of weak or even sickly physical constitution.

    • “Mon Dieu!” he soliloquized, “but they are all alike. Cheating, murdering, lying, fighting, and all for things that the beasts of the jungle would not deign to possess—money to purchase the effeminate pleasures of weaklings. And yet withal bound down by silly customs that make them slaves to their unhappy lot while firm in the belief that they be the lords of creation enjoying the only real pleasures of existence.
  • 2

    A person of weak character, lacking in courage and/or moral strength.

    • c.1551, Hugh Latimer, a sermon in Lincolnshire We may not be weaklings because we have a strong enemy.
    • Donald Trump has lashed out against his own supporters, calling them gullible “weaklings” for questioning the transparency of a secretive government inquiry into the late high-profile socialite and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

weaklingadj/ˈwiːkˈlɪŋɡ/

  • 1

    weak, either physically, morally or mentally

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。