cantankerous

• adj.機嫌が悪い；喧嘩っ早い；付き合いにくい

contentiousとraucousの合成語。または、cantan（アヒルの鳴き声）、canary（カナリア）、-ker（犬の吠え声）、cur（不機嫌な）、curmudgeon（不機嫌な）を参照。

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

愚痴好きなおじいさん

2.He met a crabbed， cantankerous director.

彼は性格が悪く、けんか好きな主管者にぶつかった。

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

彼は偏狭で無知で、気性の荒い海員にすぎない。

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

時に、彼らは性格が変で、心が狭く、不親切で、時に残酷であるかもしれない。

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

あの意地悪なバスの運転手は子供たちが歌っているので彼らをののしった。