词源不详,可能来自加勒比某土著语言 xok,由 16 世纪英国海军将军 Sir John Hawkins 引入 英语,并引申比喻义诈骗者,骗子。也有观点认为该词本来词义就是诈骗者,骗子,后用于 指这种凶猛的鱼。
shark (鲨鱼):美洲土著对鲨鱼的称呼在16世纪之前,英国水手们将鲨鱼称为“sea dog”,因为它们会像狗一样咬人。直到现在,英语中依然使用dogfish来称呼很多种小型鲨鱼。16世纪50年代,英国著名的航海探险家、商人及海盗约翰•霍金斯(John Hawkins)在一次前往新大陆的远航中,在加勒比海域捕获了一条巨大的鲨鱼,将其制成标本带回了英国伦敦并展出。在对外介绍这条鲨鱼时,霍金斯的水手们将其称为sharke,该词很有可能来自美洲土著人对鲨鱼的称呼。现代英语单词shark就来源于此。
shark:[ʃɑːk] n.鲨鱼,骗子v.敲诈,诈骗
There is no proper name for it that I knowe, but that sertayne men of Captayne Haukinses doth call it a 'sharke' [handbill advertising an exhibition of the specimen, 1569]The meaning "dishonest person who preys on others," though attested only from 1599 (sharker "artful swindler" in this sense is from 1594), may be the original sense, later transferred to the large, voracious marine fish. If so, it is possibly from German Schorck, a variant of Schurke "scoundrel, villain," agent noun of Middle High German schürgen (German schüren) "to poke, stir."
There is the ordinary Brown Shark, or sea attorney, so called by sailors; a grasping, rapacious varlet, that in spite of the hard knocks received from it, often snapped viciously at our steering oar. [Herman Melville, "Mardi"]
来自柯林斯例句
来自柯林斯例句
来自《权威词典》
来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
来自《简明英汉词典》