英语词汇hairbreadth escape的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

hairbreadth escape. A very narrow escape; just how narrow is shown by the old English formal unit of measurement called the hairbreadth, the 48th part of an inch, or 12th part of a line. The measurement is said to have been used by the Jews in an- cient times. Hairbreadth, the breadth or diameter of a hair, is recorded as early as the 15th century, but Shakespeare appears to have coined the phrase hairbreadth escape in Othello, where his leading character speaks of the “hair-breadth ’scapes” he has experienced throughout his life. Hairbreadth is often cor- rupted to hair’sbreadth in everyday speech and has indeed been said this way since the 16th century. Every hair’sbreadth Harry, anyone who is always having narrow escapes, honors an old comic strip hero of that name.

词汇	hairbreadth escape
词源	hairbreadth escape. A very narrow escape; just how narrow is shown by the old English formal unit of measurement called the hairbreadth, the 48th part of an inch, or 12th part of a line. The measurement is said to have been used by the Jews in an- cient times. Hairbreadth, the breadth or diameter of a hair, is recorded as early as the 15th century, but Shakespeare appears to have coined the phrase hairbreadth escape in Othello, where his leading character speaks of the “hair-breadth ’scapes” he has experienced throughout his life. Hairbreadth is often cor- rupted to hair’sbreadth in everyday speech and has indeed been said this way since the 16th century. Every hair’sbreadth Harry, anyone who is always having narrow escapes, honors an old comic strip hero of that name.
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