形容词 (adj.) 令人尴尬的;令人不忍直视的;让人浑身不自在的。形容某事物让人感到极度尴尬或难为情,恨不得找个地缝钻进去。
/ˈkrɪndʒˌwɜːrði/
That speech was absolutely cringeworthy.
那段演讲真是令人尴尬到不行。
Watching him try to flirt with the waitress was so cringeworthy that everyone at the table stared down at their plates in silence.
看着他试图跟女服务员搭讪,尴尬得让桌上所有人都低头盯着自己的盘子,一声不吭。
Cringeworthy 由两个部分组成:cringe(畏缩、退缩)和 -worthy(值得……的)。Cringe 源自古英语 cringan,意为"倒下、屈服",后来演变为因恐惧或不适而身体蜷缩的意思。加上后缀 -worthy(如 noteworthy、praiseworthy),字面意思就是"值得让人畏缩的",即"尴尬到让人缩起来"。该词大约在20世纪后期开始流行,尤其在互联网文化中被广泛使用。