sick man of Europe

专有名词
中文释义

英文释义

专有名词
  1. The Ottoman Empire. archaic
  2. Any European country undergoing economic difficulty.
    — Yes, we were known as the “sick man of Europe” until we joined the European Union and – guess what – we have left the EU and have regained that dubious status.

词源

Calque of Russian больно́й челове́к Европы (bolʹnój čelovék Jevropy), a phrase coined by Czar Nicholas I of the Empire of Russia, referring to the poor state of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century.
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