| 词汇 | split hairs |
| 词源 | split hairs. One Englishman has actually split a human hair 13 times into 14 parts, the world record, and there are drills so fine today that minute holes can be bored in a single hair. How- ever, when the expression to split hairs was coined over three centuries ago (in the original form to cut a hair), it was thought to be impossible to really split a hair and the phrase described any argument making overrefined, caviling distinctions; a hair- splitter was one who quibbled over trifles. Machiavelli was the first to have the word applied to him. |
| 随便看 |
|
英语词源词典收录了13259条英语词源词条，基本涵盖了全部常用英语词汇的起源、历史，是研究英语词汇或通过词源学英语的必备工具。