tangle

英 ['tæŋg(ə)l] 美 ['tæŋɡl]
  • n. 纠纷;混乱状态
  • vt. 使纠缠;处于混乱状态
  • vi. 缠结;乱作一团

中文词源


tangle 使缠结,纠结

来自中古英语 tagilen,卷入,缠结,来自 Proto-Germanic*thangul,海藻,海草,词源同 entangle. 比喻用法。

英文词源


tangle (n.)
1610s, "a tangled condition, a snarl of threads," from tangle (v.).
tangle (v.)
mid-14c., nasalized variant of tagilen "to involve in a difficult situation, entangle," from a Scandinavian source (compare dialectal Swedish taggla "to disorder," Old Norse þongull "seaweed"), from Proto-Germanic *thangul- (cognates: Frisian tung, Dutch tang, German Tang "seaweed"); thus the original sense of the root evidently was "seaweed" as something that entangles (itself, or oars, or fishes, or nets). "The development of such a verb from a noun of limited use like tangle 1 is somewhat remarkable, and needs confirmation" [Century Dictionary]. In reference to material things, from c. 1500. Meaning "to fight with" is American English, first recorded 1928. Related: Tangled; tangling. Tanglefoot (1859) was Western American English slang for "strong whiskey."

双语例句


1. Better not tangle with the censors. They're very vindictive.
最好别和检查员发生冲突,他们可爱记仇了。

来自柯林斯例句

2. I was thinking what a tangle we had got ourselves into.
我在想,我们卷入了怎样的纷争之中。

来自柯林斯例句

3. Her hair tends to tangle.
她的头发容易打结。

来自柯林斯例句

4. a tangle of branches
盘绕(纠结)在一起的树枝

来自《权威词典》

5. We employed a lawyer to straighten our legal tangle.
我们雇了一位律师把法律纠纷理出头绪.

来自《简明英汉词典》

单词首字母