One way to picture it: a person driven out of their home with nowhere to go — cold, hungry, so badly off that anyone who walks past feels sorry for them. Not just 'bad', but bad enough to pull pity out of someone else.
From the word’s history
Middle English wrecched already meant 'suffering hardship or misfortune, miserable, poor, of low social status', and the noun wretch named such a person — so the word carried both the suffering and the pity it draws from the start.
payload 附的詞源記載，中古英語 wrecched 本來就指「受苦的、不幸的、窮困的、地位低下的」，而名詞 wretch 指的正是這樣一個可憐人。所以這個字從一開始就同時扛著兩件事：當事人真的很慘，以及看到的人會生出憐憫。今天 wretched 之所以聽起來比 bad 重、比 unhappy 更讓人揪心，就是這個底子還留著。
payload 提供的詞源說明（Middle English wrecched / wretch，Wiktionary 條目）
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料6 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。
wretchedadj/ˈɹɛt͡ʃɪd/
- 1
Characterized by or feeling deep affliction or distress; very miserable.
- I felt wretched after my wife died.
- Oh (men forlorne) how wretched is our ſtate, / Whome heaven and earth oppreſſe with heapes of hate!
- 2
Of an inferior or unworthy nature or social status; contemptible, lowly.
- The street was full of wretched beggars dressed in rags.
- I had been here ſooner, but that, vvretched man that I am! I ſlept in the Arbour that ſtands on the Hillſide; nay, I had notvvithſtanding that, been here much ſooner, but that in my ſleep I loſt my Evidence, and came vvithout it to the brovv of the Hill; and then feeling for it, and finding it not, I vvas forced vvith ſorrovv of heart, to go back to the place vvhere I ſlept my ſleep, vvhere I found it, and novv I am come.
- 3
Of an insignificant, mean, or poor nature; miserable, paltry, worthless.
- I just lack the fine motor skill. Same reason I'm a grown man who doesn't know how to use a screwdriver without looking like a retard. Oh, I'm wretched.
- All those wretched quarrels, in his humble opinion, stirring up bad blood – bump of combativeness or gland of some kind, erroneously supposed to be about a punctilio of honour and a flag, – were very largely a question of the money question which was at the back of everything, greed and jealousy, people never knowing when to stop.
- 4
Of a person, etc.: behaving in a manner causing contempt; base, despicable, wicked.
- But a Devil came in juſt in the God-ſpeed, and told them; Gentlemen Philoſophers, (ſays he) if you vvould knovv the VVretched'ſt, and moſt contemptible thing in the VVorld; It is an Alchymiſt: […]
- A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor.
- 5
Of weather: causing much discomfort; very unpleasant; miserable.
- 6
informalUsed to express annoyance towards or dislike of someone or something: bloody, damned.
- Will you please stop playing that wretched trombone!
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。