varlet

英 ['vɑ?l?t] 美

復(fù)數(shù):?varlets;

varlet 無賴，惡棍

來自古法語vaslet拼寫變體，仆人，詞源同valet,vassal.引申詞義無賴，惡棍。詞義演變參照villain.

varlet: varlet: [15] Varlet and valet [16] are doublets – they come from the same ultimate source. This was Vulgar Latin *vassus, a borrowing from Old Celtic *wasso- ‘young man, squire’. From *vassus were derived two medieval Latin diminutive forms: vassallus, which has given English vassal [14], and *vassellitus. This passed into Old French as vaslet, which diversified into valet (source of English valet) and varlet (source of English varlet).

Both to begin with retained their original connotations of a ‘young man in service to a knight’, and hence by extension any ‘feudal retainer or servant’, but while valet still denotes a ‘servant’, varlet went down in the world in the 16th century to ‘knave’.
=> valet, vassal
varlet (n.): mid-15c., "servant, attendant of a knight," from Middle French varlet (14c.), variant of vaslet, originally "squire, young man," from Old French vassal (see vassal). The meaning "rascal, rogue" is 1540s.

1. An ape's an ape , a varlet's a varlet, though they be clad in silk or scarlet.: 盡管衣綢穿紅,猿猴還是猿猴, 侍從還是侍從.

2. An ape an ape, a varlet's a varlet, though they be clad in silk or scarlet.: 盡管衣綢穿紅, 猿猴仍是猿猴, 侍從仍是侍從.