supercilious

• 傲慢、尊大。

supercilium（眉毛）、-ous（形容詞接尾辞）から。比喩的な用法で、眉毛がつり上がっていて、眼光のない人を表す。

supercilious

supercilious: [16] The etymological notion underlying supercilious is of raising the ‘eyebrows’ as a sign of haughty disdain. It comes from Latin superciliōsus, a derivative of supercilium ‘eyebrow’, hence ‘haughtiness’. This was a compound noun formed from the prefix super- ‘above’ and cilium ‘eyelid’ (source of the English biological term cilium ‘hair-like process’ [18], whose meaning evolved via an intermediate ‘eyelash’).

supercilious (adj.)

1520s, "lofty with pride, haughtily contemptuous," from Latin superciliosus "haughty, arrogant," from supercilium "haughty demeanor, pride," literally "eyebrow" (via notion of raising the eyebrow to express haughtiness), from super "above" (see super-) + second element akin to cilium "eyelid," related to celare "to cover, hide," from PIE root *kel- (2) "to conceal" (see cell).

Since cilium is more recent than supercilium, the former can be interpreted as a back-formation to the latter .... If indeed derived from the root *kel- 'to hide', we must still assume that a noun *kilium 'eyelid' existed, since the eyelid can 'hide' the eye, whereas the eyebrow does not have such a function. Thus, supercilium may originally have meant 'what is above the cilium'. [Michiel de Vaan, "Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages," Leiden, 2008]

Related: Superciliously; superciliousness.

1. Her eyebrows were arched in supercilious surprise.

びっくりした彼女は誇らしげに眉毛を上げた。

2.The shop assistant was very supercilious towards me when I asked for some help.

私が買い物をして店員に声をかけようとしたとき、その店員は私にそっぽを向いていた。

3.Yet there was nothing sarcastic or supercilious in the way Ames spoke.

しかし、エイムスの話しぶりには皮肉や傲慢の味は少しもない。

4.His manner is supercilious and arrogant.

彼は非常に傲慢で尊大だ。

5.Parkman occasionally allows a supercilious tone to creep into his writings.

パックマン間、または文章中に高慢な態度を見せている。