feeble

英['fiːb(ə)l]美['fibl]

比较级: feebler;最高级: feeblest;副词: feebly;名词: feebleness;

1. 非常薄的。
2. =vulnerable(依然很薄)。

feeble 虚弱的

来自拉丁语flebilis的拼写异化词，呻吟，哭叫，词源同bleat, blare.

feeble: feeble: [12] Semantically, feeble was originally a close relative of deplorable and lamentable, but over the centuries it has diverged markedly from them. Its ultimate source was Latin flēbilis, a derivative of the verb flēre ‘weep’. In classical times this meant literally ‘worthy of being cried over, lamentable’, but later it came to signify ‘weak’. It passed in this sense into Old French as fleible, which subsequently became feible or feble (source of English feeble), and later still foible (whence English foible [17]) and faible (the modern French form).
=> foible
feeble (adj.): late 12c., "lacking strength or vigor" (physical, moral, or intellectual), from Old French feble "weak, feeble" (12c., Modern French faible), dissimilated from Latin flebilis "lamentable," literally "that is to be wept over," from flere "weep, cry, shed tears, lament," from PIE *bhle- "to howl" (see bleat (v.)). The first -l- was lost in Old French. The noun meaning "feeble person" is recorded from mid-14c.

2. The Observer found the play "a feeble rehash of familiar Miller themes": 《观察家报》认为这部剧“是大家熟悉的米勒式主题的拙劣翻版”。