mettle「 奮鬥精神;毅力」​

mettle「 奮鬥精神;毅力」​

Word of the Day

October 4, 2021

mettle

奮鬥精神;毅力;勇敢

noun MET-ul

What It Means

Mettle refers to the ability to continue in spite of difficulties。

Mettle 指儘管困難但仍能繼續下去的能力。

Examples

The contestants proved their mettle by completing the triathlon。

選手們證明了他們的勇敢,完成了鐵人三項。

“Recently, 23 of Watauga‘s best math students met virtually to test their mettle against their peers in the annual MathCounts competition—a contest that tasks young mathematicians to tackle challenging math problems in a timed tournament format。” — The Blowing Rocket (Blowing Rock, North Carolina), 22 Apr。 2021

最近,23名瓦託加最優秀的數學學生在一年一度的數學競賽中,進行了虛擬見面會,測試他們與同齡孩子間的勇氣。要求年輕的數學家在限時競賽中,解決具有挑戰性的數學題目。

Did You Know?

Originally, mettle was simply a variant spelling of the word metal (which dates to at least the 13th century), and it was used in all of the same senses as its metallic relative。 Over time, however, mettle came to be used mainly in figurative senses referring to the quality of someone’s character。 It eventually became a distinct English word in its own right, losing its literal sense altogether。 Metal remained a term primarily used for those hard, shiny substances such as steel or iron, but it also acquired a figurative use。 Today, both words can mean “vigor and strength of spirit or temperament,” but only metal is used of metallic substances。

最初,mettle只是metal的變體寫法(至少可以追溯到13世紀),它的含義與metal『金屬』相同。但隨著時間的推移,mettle 主要用於比喻,指人的性格品質。它最終成為了一個獨特的英語單詞,完全失去了字面含義。Metal 這個詞主要指的是堅硬、有光澤的物質,如鋼或鐵,但它也有用作比喻。今天,這兩個詞都可以表示“精神活力或性格剛強”,但(作金屬講)metal 僅用於金屬物質。

Quiz

What 5-letter noun beginning with “v” refers to physical or mental strength or energy?

vigor『活力;精力』