fiasco
英 [fɪ'æskəʊ]
美 [fɪ'æsko]
- n. 惨败
- n. (Fiasco)人名；(意)菲亚斯科
助记提示
1. fiasc- （谐音“非哀失客”-----非常悲哀的失败了的人、非常悲哀的失败了的客人） + -o （意大利语后缀）=> fiasco: 既然是非常悲哀的那种失败，当然就是惨败了。
2. flagon, flask => fiasco: perhaps from mean "to play a game so that the one that loses will pay the fiasco," in other words, he will buy the next bottle (of wine), to the notion of "a costly mistake".
3. Fiasco一词来源于意大利语，本意是“长颈瓶，玻璃瓶”。从19世纪中期起，人们开始用fiasco来表示“完全的失败，惨败”。那么，“惨败”和“瓶子”之间究竟有什么联系呢？这里有两种说法。
第一种说法认为fiasco的“惨败”之义起源于剧院。在戏剧表演中，fare fiasco指的是“说错台词”或“表演失误”。这可能与发生在舞台上的某次意外有关，比如摔破瓶子。久而久之，fare fiasco就成了“灾祸”的代名词了。
第二种推测的可能性更大。这种说法认为fare fiasco和意大利的吹玻璃工人有关。工人在制造饰品过程中如果出了差错，就将这些废玻璃留下来，供制造质量稍次的长颈瓶或玻璃瓶使用，也就是这里所说的fare fiasco（制造瓶子）。而fare fiasco或fiasco则进一步被引申为 “差错”或“出差错的行为”。
中文词源
fiasco 惨败来自flask的意大利语拼写形式，瓶子，酒瓶。引申词义惨败，可能来自一种游戏，由输者支付酒钱，因而得名。
英文词源
- fiasco
- fiasco: [19] In Italian, a fiasco is literally a ‘bottle’ (the word comes from medieval Latin fiasco, source of English flagon and flask). Its figurative use apparently stems from the phrase far fiasco, literally ‘make a bottle’, used traditionally in Italian theatrical slang for ‘suffer a complete breakdown in performance’. The usual range of fanciful theories has been advanced for the origin of the usage, but none is particularly convincing.
=> flagon, flask - fiasco (n.)
- 1855, theater slang for "a failure in performance;" by 1862 it had acquired the general sense of "any ignominious failure or dismal flop," on or off the stage. It comes via the French phrase fiare fiasco "turn out a failure" (19c.), from Italian far fiasco "suffer a complete breakdown in performance," literally "make a bottle," from fiasco "bottle," from Late Latin flasco "bottle" (see flask).
The literal sense of the image (if it is one) is obscure today, but "the usual range of fanciful theories has been advanced" [Ayto]. Century Dictionary says "perhaps in allusion to the bursting of a bottle," Weekley pronounces it impenetrable and compares French ramasser un pelle "to come a cropper (in bicycling), literally to pick up a shovel." OED keeps its distance and lets nameless "Italian etymologists" make nebulous reference to "alleged incidents in Italian theatrical history." Klein suggests Venetian glass-crafters tossing aside imperfect pieces to be made later into common flasks. But according to an Italian dictionary, fare il fiasco used to mean "to play a game so that the one that loses will pay the fiasco," in other words, he will buy the next bottle (of wine). If the dates are not objectionable, that plausibly connects the literal sense of the word with the notion of "a costly mistake."
双语例句
- 1. The blame for the Charleston fiasco did not lie with him.
- 查尔斯顿惨败错不在他。
来自柯林斯例句
- 2. His last visit to Washington was little short of a fiasco.
- 他最近对华盛顿的访问几乎是一场惨败。
来自柯林斯例句
- 3. "It's a fiasco," he stormed.
- “这是场彻底的失败，”他怒吼道。
来自柯林斯例句
- 4. The meeting was a fiasco from start to finish.
- 会议自始至终都失败了.
来自《简明英汉词典》
- 5. The new play was a fiasco.
- 这一新戏完全失败了.
来自《简明英汉词典》