• adj. 奇怪的；同性戀的；不舒服的；心智不平衡的
• vt. 搞糟；使陷于不利地位
• n. 同性戀者；怪人；偽造的貨幣

來自德語quer,奇怪的，變態的，來自PIE*terkw,彎，轉，詞源同turn,torque.比喻用法，引申 詞義同性戀。字母t,q 音變，比較quarter,tetragram.

queer

queer: [16] Queer was probably borrowed from German quer ‘across, oblique’, hence ‘perverse’. This went back to a prehistoric Indo- European *twerk-, which also produced English thwart and Latin torquēre ‘twist’ (source of English torch, torture, etc).
=> thwart, torch, torment, tort, torture

queer (adj.)

c. 1500, "strange, peculiar, eccentric," from Scottish, perhaps from Low German (Brunswick dialect) queer "oblique, off-center," related to German quer "oblique, perverse, odd," from Old High German twerh "oblique," from PIE root *terkw- "to turn, twist, wind" (see thwart (adv.)).

Sense of "homosexual" first recorded 1922; the noun in this sense is 1935, from the adjective. Related: Queerly. Queer studies as an academic discipline attested from 1994.

queer (v.)

"to spoil, ruin," 1812, from queer (adj.). Related: Queered; queering. Earlier it meant "to puzzle, ridicule, cheat" (1790). To queer the pitch (1846) is in reference to the patter of an itinerant tradesman or showman (see pitch (n.1)).

These wanderers, and those who are still seen occasionally in the back streets of the metropolis, are said to 'go a-pitching ;' the spot they select for their performance is their 'pitch,' and any interruption of their feats, such as an accident, or the interference of a policeman, is said to 'queer the pitch,'--in other words, to spoil it. [Thomas Frost, "Circus Life and Circus Celebrities," London, 1875]

1. " Queer " is the word often used euphemistically for " mad ".

“ Queer ” 這個詞常用作 “ mad ” 的委婉語.

來自《現代漢英綜合大詞典》

2. I could not help but think this is a very queer life.

我忍不住會認為這是一種非常怪異的生活。

來自柯林斯例句

3. His face was a queer pink colour.

他滿臉奇怪的粉紅色。

來自《權威詞典》

4. What a queer story!

一個多么離奇的故事!

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

5. I heard some queer footsteps.

我聽到某種可疑的腳步聲.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》