hardscrabble的词源

英文词源

hardscrabble (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
in popular use from c. 1826 as a U.S. colloquial name for any barren or impoverished place "where a livelihood may be obtained only under great hardship and difficulty" [OED]; from hard (adj.) + noun from scrabble (v.). Noted in 1813 as a place-name in New York state; first recorded in journals of Lewis and Clark (1804) as the name of a prairie. Perhaps the original notion was "vigorous effort made under great stress," though this sense is recorded slightly later (1812). As an adjective by 1845.

中文词源

hardscrabble:困难的,贫困的

hard,坚硬的,艰苦的,scrabble,摸,找,挣扎。即贫瘠的土地上寻生计,土里刨食,引申词义困难的,艰苦的。

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版:hardscrabble 词源,hardscrabble 含义。