• adj. 脾气坏的；爱吵架的；难相处的

可能来自contentious和raucous的合成词。或来自于cantan, 鸭叫声，见canary, -ker, 狗叫声，见cur, curmudgeon.

cantankerous

cantankerous: [18] Cantankerous is a rather mysterious word. It first appears in the 1770s, and the earliest known reference to it is in Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer 1772: ‘There’s not a more bitter cantanckerous road in all christendom’. Its origin is disputed: perhaps the likeliest source is Middle English contekour ‘brawler’, from contek ‘strife’, a borrowing from an unrecorded Anglo-Norman *contek, but an Irish origin has also been suggested, perhaps from Irish cannrán ‘strife, grumbling’ (another early user of the word was the Irish playwright Thomas Sheridan).

cantankerous (adj.)

1772, said to be "a Wiltshire word," probably from an alteration (influenced by raucous) of Middle English contakour "troublemaker" (c. 1300), from Anglo-French contec "discord, strife," from Old French contechier (Old North French contekier), from con- "with" + teche, related to atachier "hold fast" (see attach). With -ous. Related: Cantankerously; cantankerousness.

1. a cantankerous old man

爱抱怨的老头

来自《权威词典》

2. He met a crabbed, cantankerous director.

他碰上了一位坏脾气、爱争吵的主管。

来自辞典例句

3. He was nothing but a narrow, ignorant, and cantankerous sea -- faring man .

他只不过是个狭隘无知 、 脾气 暴戾 的海员而已.

来自名作英译部分

4. Sometimes they can be cantankerous, mean - spirited, unkind, and sometimes downright cruel.

有时候,他们可能脾气古怪, 心胸狭窄, 不友善, 有时简直是残酷的.

来自互联网

5. The cantankerous bus driver rouse on the children for singing.

那个坏脾气的公共汽车司机因为孩子们唱歌而骂他们.

来自互联网