buck

• n. （美）钱，元；雄鹿；纨绔子弟；年轻的印第安人或黑人
• n. (Buck)人名；(英、西)巴克；(法)比克；(德、瑞典、匈)布克

词态变化

助记提示

中文词源

来自PIE *bhug, 公羊，同时指公鹿，公兔等其它雄性动物，后主要指雄鹿。美元义来自于美国西部大开发中鹿皮做为土著印地安人和欧洲殖民者间的货币媒介。

因在伦敦著名的Buck’s Club首次调制出而得名。

英文词源

buck

buck: [OE] Old English had two related words which have coalesced into modern English buck: bucca ‘male goat’ and buc ‘male deer’. Both go back to a prehistoric Germanic stem *buk-, and beyond that probably to an Indo-European source. The 18th-century meaning ‘dashing fellow’ probably comes ultimately from the related Old Norse bokki, a friendly term for a male colleague, which was originally adopted in English in the 14th century meaning simply ‘fellow’. The colloquial American sense ‘dollar’ comes from an abbreviation of buckskin, which was used as a unit of trade with the Native Americans in Frontier days.
=> butcher

buck (n.1)

"male deer," c. 1300, earlier "male goat;" from Old English bucca "male goat," from Proto-Germanic *bukkon (cognates: Old Saxon buck, Middle Dutch boc, Dutch bok, Old High German boc, German Bock, Old Norse bokkr), perhaps from a PIE root *bhugo (cognates: Avestan buza "buck, goat," Armenian buc "lamb"), but some speculate that it is from a lost pre-Germanic language. Barnhart says Old English buc "male deer," listed in some sources, is a "ghost word or scribal error."

Meaning "dollar" is 1856, American English, perhaps an abbreviation of buckskin, a unit of trade among Indians and Europeans in frontier days, attested in this sense from 1748. Pass the buck is first recorded in the literal sense 1865, American English:

The 'buck' is any inanimate object, usually knife or pencil, which is thrown into a jack pot and temporarily taken by the winner of the pot. Whenever the deal reaches the holder of the 'buck', a new jack pot must be made. [J.W. Keller, "Draw Poker," 1887]

Perhaps originally especially a buck-handled knife. The figurative sense of "shift responsibility" is first recorded 1912. Buck private is recorded by 1870s, of uncertain signification.

buck (v.)

1848, apparently with a sense of "jump like a buck," from buck (n.1). Related: Bucked; bucking. Buck up "cheer up" is from 1844.

buck (n.2)

"sawhorse," 1817, American English, apparently from Dutch bok "trestle."

双语例句

1. The owners don't want to overlook any opportunity to make a buck.

老板们不想错过任何可以赚钱的机会。

来自柯林斯例句

2. He'd been a real hell-raiser as a young buck.

他年轻时是个十足的捣蛋鬼。

来自柯林斯例句

3. His life isn't ruled by looking for a fast buck.

他的生活没有被一味想发大财的心态左右。

来自柯林斯例句

4. Buck up your ideas or you'll get more of the same treatment.

打起精神来，否则你会吃更多苦头。

来自柯林斯例句

5. People are saying if we don't buck up we'll be in trouble.

人们说，如果我们再不积极行动起来，我们就会有麻烦。

来自柯林斯例句