sycophant

名词 n. 动词 v.
中文释义

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. One who uses obsequious compliments to gain self-serving favour or advantage from another; a servile flatterer.
    — A sycophant will everything admire: / Each verse, each sentence, sets his soul on fire
  2. One who seeks to gain through the powerful and influential.
  3. An informer; a talebearer. obsolete
    — [H]is mind had no eye to espy goodness; and therefore accusing sycophants, of all men, did best sort to his nature.
    The New Arcadia
动词 v.
  1. To inform against; hence, to calumniate. obsolete,transitive
    — As therefore he began in the title, so in the next leaf he makes it his first business to tamper with his reader by sycophanting and misnaming the work of his adversary.
  2. To play the sycophant toward; to flatter obsequiously. rare,transitive

词形变化

sycophants plural sycophants present,singular,third-person sycophanting participle,present sycophanted participle,past sycophanted past

词汇关系

近义词
adulator apple polisher arse-kisser arse-licker ass-kisser ass-licker bootlick bootlicker buttkisser buttlicker brownnose brown noser clawback dickrider doormat flatterer flunkey groveler groveller hanger-on kiss-ass lackey lickspittle lick-platter lickpot minion people pleaser pickthank schmoozer simp suck up sycophant throne sniffer toadeater toady white knight
反义词
boss malapert ruler
上位词
person
下位词
courtier shill heeler teacher's pet tufthunter yes man
衍生词
sycophancy sycophantic sycophantish sycophantism sycophantize sycophantly sycophantry
相关词
flattery loyal follower obedient sycophantic jerk

词源

词源 1
First attested in 1537. From Latin sȳcophanta (“informer, trickster”), from Ancient Greek συκοφάντης (sukophántēs), itself from σῦκον (sûkon, “fig”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “to show, demonstrate”). The gesture of "showing the fig" was a vulgar one, which was made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, which is itself symbolic of a σῦκον (sûkon), which also meant vulva. The story behind this etymology is that politicians in ancient Greece steered clear of displaying that vulgar gesture, but secretly urged their followers to taunt their opponents by using it.
Cognate with Italian sicofante, Spanish sicofanta.
词源 2
First attested in 1537. From Latin sȳcophanta (“informer, trickster”), from Ancient Greek συκοφάντης (sukophántēs), itself from σῦκον (sûkon, “fig”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “to show, demonstrate”). The gesture of "showing the fig" was a vulgar one, which was made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, which is itself symbolic of a σῦκον (sûkon), which also meant vulva. The story behind this etymology is that politicians in ancient Greece steered clear of displaying that vulgar gesture, but secretly urged their followers to taunt their opponents by using it.
Cognate with Italian sicofante, Spanish sicofanta.
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