puerile: [17] Latin puer denoted ‘child’, or more specifically ‘boy’ (like Greek pais ‘child’, source of English paediatric, pedagogue, etc, it came ultimately from a base which signified ‘smallness’, and also gave English pusillanimous). The derived adjective puerīlis ‘childlike’ began to acquire its negative connotations in Latin, and brought them with it into English. The related puerperal ‘of childbirth’ [18] comes from a Latin compound formed from puer and parere ‘give birth’ (source of English parent). => pusillanimous
puerile (adj.)
1660s, "youthful, boyish," a back-formation from puerility, or else from French puéril (15c.), from Latin puerilis "boyish; childish," from puer "boy, child" (see puerility). Disparaging sense, "juvenile, immature," is from 1680s.
雙語(yǔ)例句
1. Concert organisers branded the group's actions as puerile.
音樂(lè)會(huì)的組織者指稱(chēng)該樂(lè)隊(duì)的行為愚蠢幼稚。
來(lái)自柯林斯例句
2. The story is simple, even puerile.
故事很簡(jiǎn)單,甚至有些幼稚。
來(lái)自辭典例句
3. The belief in it issues from the puerile egos of inferior men.
這種信仰是下等人幼稚的自私意識(shí)中產(chǎn)生的.
來(lái)自辭典例句
4. He was more interested in states of mind than in " puerile superstitions, Gothic castles, and chimeras. "