urchin

英 ['??t??n] 美

GRE暢通詞匯

復(fù)數(shù):?urchins;

urchin 海膽，流浪兒

來自拉丁語ericius,刺猬，來自PIE*ghers,刺，刺毛，詞源同horror.

urchin: urchin: [13] Urchin originally meant ‘hedgehog’. It was borrowed from Old Northern French herichon, which came via Vulgar Latin *hēriciō from Latin hērīcius or ērīcius ‘hedgehog’, a derivative of ēr ‘hedgehog’. This ancestral sense now survives only dialectally, but its spiny connotations are preserved in sea urchin, which dates from the late 16th century. The metaphorical ‘dirty scruffy child, brat’ emerged in the 16th century too. The second syllable of caprice goes back to Latin ērīcius.
=> caprice
urchin (n.): c. 1300, yrichon "hedgehog," from Old North French *irechon (cognates: Picard irechon, Walloon ireson, Hainaut hirchon), from Old French herichun "hedgehog" (Modern French hérisson), formed with diminutive suffix -on + Vulgar Latin *hericionem, from Latin ericius "hedgehog," enlarged form of er, originally *her, from PIE root *ghers- "to bristle" (cognates: Greek kheros "hedgehog;" see horror).

Still used for "hedgehog" in non-standard speech in Cumbria, Yorkshire, Shropshire. Applied throughout 16c. to people whose appearance or behavior suggested hedgehogs, from hunchbacks (1520s) to goblins (1580s) to bad girls (1530s); meaning "poorly or raggedly clothed youngster" emerged 1550s, but was not in frequent use until after c. 1780. Sea urchin is recorded from 1590s (a 19c. Newfoundland name for them was whore's eggs); Johnson describes it as "a kind of crabfish that has prickles instead of feet."

1. "Urchin", with its connotation of mischievousness, may not be a particularly apt word.: urchin有淘氣的含義，可能不是一個特別恰當(dāng)?shù)脑~。

5. An urchin who had frequently seen him before, stopped to gaze.: 一個以前常在那里看見他的頑童, 停下來觀望著.