| 词源 |
hamstring v.1640s, "to disable, render useless," a figurative verbal extension from hamstring (n.) "tendon at the back of the knee." Cutting this would render a person or animal lame. The literal sense of the verb is attested from 1670s. Because it is a verb from a noun-noun compound, hamstrung as its past participle is technically incorrect. [I]n hamstring, -string is not the verb string; we do not string the ham, but do something to the tendon called the hamstring; the verb, that is, is made not from the two words ham & string, but from the noun hamstring. It must therefore make hamstringed. [Fowler] An older term for the same thing was hough-sineuen (15c.), with hock (n.1) + sinew (n.), also a noun-noun compound. hamstring n. "tendon at the back of the knee," 1560s, from ham "bend of the knee" (see ham (n.1)) + string (n.). updated on November 05, 2022 |