seldom

英 ['seldəm] 美 ['sɛldəm]

解释

※ 提供单词"seldom"的中文意思、发音示范及音标对照，中英文词源、例句和用法等。

seldom 很少，难得

来自古英语 seldum,改写自 seldan,少有，罕有，来自 Proto-Germanic*selda,罕有，反常，奇怪。

seldom: seldom: [OE] Seldom goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *selda-, of which the underlying notion appears to have been ‘strange and rare’. Its modern Germanic relatives include German selten, Dutch zelten, Swedish sällan, and Danish sjelden.
seldom (adv.): late Old English seldum, alteration of seldan "seldom, rarely," from Proto-Germanic *selda- "strange, rare" (cognates: Old Norse sjaldan, Old Frisian selden, Dutch zelden, Old High German seltan, German selten), perhaps ultimately from the base of self (q.v.).

Form shifted on analogy of adverbial dative plurals in -um (such as whilom "at one time," from while). The same development also created litlum from little, miclum from mickle. German seltsam "strange, odd," Dutch zeldzaam are related, but with the second element conformed to their versions of -some.

Seldom-times is from mid-15c. (Old English had seldhwanne "seldwhen"). Seldom-seen is from mid-15c. (Old English had seldsiene, "seld-seen").

Some compounds using the old form survived through Middle English, such as selcouth"rarely or little-known, unusual, strange, wonderful," from Old English selcuð, seld-cuð, from seldan + cuð (see couth). Old English seldan had comparative seldor, superlative seldost; in early Middle English, as seldan changed form and lost its connection with these, selde was formed as a positive. Shakespeare uses seld-shown.

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1. Even Ford, who seldom smiled, laughed out loud a few times.: 即使是很少笑的福特，有几次也笑出声来。