• adj. 畏縮的；怯懦的
• n. 懦夫
• n. (Craven)人名；(意)克拉文；(英)克雷文

詞源不詳。可能來自詞根crep, 破碎，劈里叭啦，詞源同decrepit, discrepancy. 原指被打敗的，后指被打怕的，因而膽小的。

craven

craven: [13] Craven originally meant simply ‘defeated’, and only gradually came to have the pejorative sense ‘cowardly’. It probably came from Old French cravante ‘defeated’, the past participle of the verb cravanter, which in turn came via Vulgar Latin *crepantāre from Latin crepāre; this meant ‘creak, rattle, crack’ (hence the English technical term crepitation [17]) but also secondarily ‘burst’ or ‘break’.
=> crepitation, crevice, decrepit

craven (adj.)

early 13c., cravant, perhaps from Old French crevante "defeated," past participle of cravanter "to strike down, to fall down," from Latin crepare "to crack, creak." Sense affected by crave and moved from "defeated" to "cowardly" (c. 1400) perhaps via intermediary sense of "confess oneself defeated." Related: Cravenly; cravenness.

1. A neighbour saw her talking with Craven.

一個鄰居看見她在和克雷文交談。

來自柯林斯例句

2. I had no doubt that the craven fellow would be only too pleased to back out.

我毫不懷疑那個膽小的家伙巴不得撒手退出呢.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

3. They condemned the deal as a craven surrender.

他們譴責這筆交易為毫無志氣的投降行為。

來自辭典例句

4. Jonathan Craven was the second person hired at Chesapeake Capital.

喬納森?卡文是切薩皮克資金第二個聘用的員工.

來自互聯網

5. No man wants to be thought a craven person.

沒有人愿意被認為是懦弱的人.

來自互聯網