treacle「糖浆，糖蜜」

Word of the Day : October 27, 2021

treacle

糖浆，糖蜜

noun TREE-kul | [ˈtrik(ə)l]

What It Means

Treacle is a British word for molasses. The heavy sweetness of the syrup influenced people to apply its name to things overly sentimental.

Treacle 在英国是糖蜜的意思。 浓重甜味的糖浆影响了人们将它的名字应用于过于感性的事物。

Examples

From beginning to end, the movie had many lines of sentimental treacle.

影片从头到尾，有很多蜜糖般感伤的台词。

"But Parr's script swings so often between artistic triumph and personal tragedy that the structure quickly feels predictable, and lines likely intended to be inspirational sound more like pat treacle." — Steve Barnes, The Times Union (Albany, New York), 25 Aug. 2021

但是帕尔的剧本经常在艺术的胜利和个人的悲剧之间摇摆不定，以至于很快让人感觉内容可以预测，而那些鼓舞人心的台词听起来更像pat treacle（甜腻的蜜糖？）。”

Did You Know?

Treacle begins in ancient Greece. The Greek word thēriakos, meaning "of a wild animal," came from thērion ("wild animal"). Since wild animals are often known to bite, these words gave rise to thēriakē, meaning "antidote against a poisonous bite." Latin borrowed thēriakē as theriaca. Those roots gave life to treacle referring to molasses (developing from the "antidote" sense). The "molasses" sense was extended to things excessively sweet or sentimental.

Treacle 始于古希腊。 希腊语 thēriakos 的意思是“of a wild animal「属于野生动物」”，来自 thērion（“wild animal「野生动物」”）。 由于野生动物经常咬人，因此这些词产生了thēriakē，意思是“antidote against a poisonous bite「针对毒物叮咬的解药」”。 拉丁语借了 thēriakē 用于 theriaca。这些词根赋予了treacle生命，来指代molasses「糖蜜」 （从“antidote「解毒剂」”意义发展而来）。molasses的含义延伸为过于甜蜜的事物；多愁善感的事物。

Quiz

Fill in the blanks to complete an adjective meaning "overly sentimental": m _ _ d _ _ n.

maudlin「脆弱的感情」

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