woman

英 ['wʊmən] 美 ['wʊmən]

CET4TEM4考研CET6

解释

n. 妇女；女性；成年女子

※ 提供单词"woman"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。

中文词源

woman 女人

缩写自古英语wifman,女人，wif-,女人，词源同wife,man,人。

英文词源

woman: woman: [OE] A woman is etymologically a ‘wife-man’ – that is to say, a ‘female person’. The word was compounded in the Old English period from wīf ‘woman’ (source of modern English wife) and man ‘person’ (source of modern English man). Already by the end of the Old English period the f of wifman was disappearing, giving wiman, and the influence of the w sound started to turn this into woman in the 13th century. Woman did not finally oust the two more ancient words for ‘female person’, wife and the now obsolete quean, until the end of the Middle English period.
=> man, wife
woman (n.): "adult female human," late Old English wimman, wiman (plural wimmen), literally "woman-man," alteration of wifman (plural wifmen) "woman, female servant" (8c.), a compound of wif "woman" (see wife) + man "human being" (in Old English used in reference to both sexes; see man (n.)). Compare Dutch vrouwmens "wife," literally "woman-man."
It is notable that it was thought necessary to join wif, a neuter noun, representing a female person, to man, a masc. noun representing either a male or female person, to form a word denoting a female person exclusively. [Century Dictionary]
The formation is peculiar to English and Dutch. Replaced older Old English wif and quean as the word for "female human being." The pronunciation of the singular altered in Middle English by the rounding influence of -w-; the plural retains the original vowel. Meaning "wife," now largely restricted to U.S. dialectal use, is attested from mid-15c. Woman-hater "misogynist" is from c. 1600. Women's work is from 1660s. Women's liberation is attested from 1966; women's rights is from 1840, with an isolated example in 1630s.

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例句和用法

1. When the right woman comes along, this bad dream will be over.: 当有合适的女人出现时，这种胡思乱想就会停止了。

2. The Inspector remembered her as a small, mousy woman, invariably worried.: 检察官记得，她是一个矮小、羞怯、总是闷闷不乐的人。

3. These days work plays an important part in a single woman's life.: 现在，工作在单身女性的生活中起着重要作用。

4. She has now changed into a happy, self-confident woman.: 如今她已经变成一个快乐、自信的女人。

5. She was the only woman in Shell's legal department.: 她是壳牌公司法律事务部唯一的女性。