wench

英 [wen(t)?] 美[w?nt?]

近義詞maiden

暢通詞匯

復(fù)數(shù):?wenches;

wench 少婦，少女

來(lái)自PIE*weng,彎，轉(zhuǎn)，柔弱，詞源同weak,vetch。通常含貶義。

wench (n.): late 13c., wenche "girl, young woman," especially if unmarried, also "female infant," shortened from wenchel "child," also in Middle English "girl, maiden," from Old English wencel, probably related to wancol "unsteady, fickle, weak," from Proto-Germanic *wankila- (cognates: Old Norse vakr "child, weak person," Old High German wanchal "fickle"), from PIE *weng- "to bend, curve" (see wink (v.)).
The wenche is nat dead, but slepith. [Wyclif, Matt. ix:24, c. 1380]
In Middle English occasionally with disparaging suggestion, and secondary sense of "concubine, strumpet" is attested by mid-14c. Also "serving-maid, bondwoman, young woman of a humble class" (late 14c.), a sense retained in the 19c. U.S. South in reference to slave women of any age. In Shakespeare's day a female flax-worker could be a flax-wench, flax-wife, or flax-woman.
wench (v.): "to associate with common women," 1590s, from wench (n.). Related: Wenched; wencher; wenching.

1. Scarlett dropped Prissy's arm and the wench sank whimpering to the steps.: 思嘉放開百里茜的胳臂,這女孩便嗚嗚咽咽地在樓梯上坐下了.

3. How can you know, wench? Facts bear strong against him.: 你怎么會(huì)知道呢, 姑娘? 事實(shí)證明對(duì)他非常不利.

5. She was no sooner gone but comes a wench and a child, puffing and sweating.: 她剛一走開,立刻就來(lái)了一個(gè)姑娘同一個(gè)小孩, 喘著氣,流著汗.