喜樂美語
  1. 1nB2/ˈkaʊərd/ · /ˈkaʊəd/膽小鬼；懦夫

    Someone who is not brave at all — a person who is too afraid to do something hard, , or unpleasant that they should do.

    示範例句 · Example

    Try it — it's only a little spicy. Don't be such a coward!

    逐字試試看——它只有一點點辣。別當一個這樣的膽小鬼！

    「coward」是名詞，指「一點都不勇敢的人」——面對該做卻讓人害怕的事（看牙醫、承認錯誤、替別人說話）就退縮的人。它是「人」，不是形容詞：要形容一個人或一件事不勇敢，用 cowardly（a cowardly act），不能說 He is very coward。這個字的畫面可以想成「一隻夾著尾巴溜走的動物」——古法文的 coart 跟「尾巴」有關，這個小圖像很好記。日常對話裡，coward 最常出現在自嘲或朋友間的玩笑（I'm such a coward about spiders），語氣其實不重。

    常見搭配

    • be a coward about something

      對某件事特別膽小

      to be very afraid of one particular thing

      Ren is a terrible coward about spiders.

    • don't be such a coward

      別這麼膽小啦

      used to encourage someone who is afraid to try

      Don't be such a coward — the water is warm!

    • call someone a coward

      說某人是膽小鬼

      to say that someone is not brave

      Nobody likes being called a coward.

    • feel like a coward

      覺得自己很沒膽

      to feel that you were not brave enough

      I felt like a coward when I stayed quiet.

    • a moral coward

      沒有道德勇氣的人

      someone who is afraid to say or do what is right

      He knew the rule was unfair, but he said nothing and called himself a moral coward.

    意思相近

    wimpchickenscaredy-catweakling

    意思相反

    herodaredevil

core核心畫面

Someone backing away from the thing they were supposed to face. The fear itself is ordinary — everyone has it; what the word points at is the retreat that follows, seen from the outside and judged.

有件難的、可怕的事擺在一個人面前，而他往後退開了。要注意這個字指的不是「會害怕」——害怕是人人都有的；它指的是害怕之後選擇不面對的那一步，而且是別人從外面看、帶著責備下的判斷。所以 coward 幾乎不會是中性描述，它是罵人的話：說某人是 coward，等於在說他該站出來卻沒站出來。

同家族的字

複數 cowards

意思相近

wimpchickenscaredy-catweakling

意思相反

herodaredevil

原始詞典資料5 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

Cowardname

  • 1

    A surname originating as an occupation.

cowardnoun/ˈkaʊəd/

  • 1

    A person who lacks courage.

    • Near-synonyms: big baby, baby
    • Cowards dye many times before their deaths, / The valiant neuer taſte of death but once: […]

cowardadj/ˈkaʊəd/

  • 1

    Cowardly.

    • It is a coward and servile humour, for a man to disguise and hide himselfe under a maske, and not dare to shew himselfe as he is.
    • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act II, Scene 4, He rais’d the house with loud and coward cries.
  • 2

    governmentheraldryhobbiesBorne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs.

cowardverb/ˈkaʊəd/

  • 1

    obsoleteTo intimidate.

    • The first he coped with was their captain, whom / His sword sent headless to seek out a tomb. / This cowarded the valour of the rest, […]

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。