qualm

英 [kwɑ?m; kw??m] 美[kwɑm]

TEM8GRE低頻詞擴(kuò)展詞匯

復(fù)數(shù):?qualms;

1. 諧音“恐母、恐目、恐嗎”。

qualm 顧慮，不安

來自古英語cwealm,死亡，謀殺，折磨，詞源同kill,quell.引申詞義有死亡危險(xiǎn)的，恐懼的，后詞義弱化為顧慮，不安。

qualm (n.): Old English cwealm (West Saxon) "death, murder, slaughter; disaster; plague; torment," utcualm (Anglian) "utter destruction," probably related to cwellan "to kill, murder, execute," cwelan "to die" (see quell). Sense softened to "feeling of faintness" 1520s; figurative meaning "uneasiness, doubt" is from 1550s; that of "scruple of conscience" is 1640s.

Evidence of a direct path from the Old English to the modern senses is wanting, but it is plausible, via the notion of "fit of sickness." The other suggested etymology, less satisfying, is to take the "fit of uneasiness" sense from Dutch kwalm "steam, vapor, mist" (cognate with German Qualm "smoke, vapor, stupor"), which also might be ultimately from the same Germanic root as quell.

1. Did she see her husband as capable of murder? She had used the word without a qualm.: 她覺得自己的丈夫可能殺人嗎？在使用這個(gè)字眼的時(shí)候，她沒有絲毫的不安。

2. Hurstwood suffered a qualm of body as the car rolled up.: 當(dāng)電車開上前時(shí),赫斯渥渾身感到一陣不安.

4. Lastly she arrived at the tresses and felt a qualm of disgust.: 最后,她看到提到頭發(fā)的那一句,心里覺得一陣惡心.

5. They never know that exam make us qualm and dissatisfaction.: 他們永遠(yuǎn)也不會(huì)知道,考試令我們感到忐忑不安及不滿.