conundrum

英 [k?'n?ndr?m] 美[k?'n?ndr?m]

GRE低頻詞暢通詞匯

復(fù)數(shù):?conundrums;

諧音“可難捉摸”------謎語、難題。

conundrum 難題

牛津大學(xué)俚語，模仿拉丁詞創(chuàng)造出來的假拉丁詞，用以形容食古不化的學(xué)究，準(zhǔn)確詞源不詳。可能來自PIE*kwo, 表疑問，衍生英語詞匯how, who,what,which,why, quality, quantity.

conundrum: conundrum: [16] Conundrum originally appeared in all manner of weird and wonderful guises – conimbrum, conuncrum, quonundrum, connunder, etc – before settling down to conundrum in the late 18th century. It bears all the marks of one of the rather heavy-handed quasi-Latin joke words beloved of scholars in the 16th and 17th centuries, and a mid-17thcentury commentator attributed it to Oxford university. At first it meant ‘whim’ and then ‘pun’; the current sense ‘puzzling problem’ did not develop until the end of the 18th century.
conundrum (n.): 1590s, Oxford University slang for "pedant," also "whim," etc., later (1790) "riddle, puzzle." Also spelled quonundrum. The sort of ponderous pseudo-Latin word that was once the height of humor in learned circles.

1. Scientists had focused on two explanations to solve this conundrum.: 科學(xué)家已鎖定兩種解釋來解開這個(gè)難題。

2. Interaction designers often face the conundrum of whether to make their products user - customizable.: 交互設(shè)計(jì)者經(jīng)常面臨這樣的難題,即是否讓他們的產(chǎn)品具有用戶定制功能.

3. What I said was that there was some interest at Conundrum.: 我說的是迷題出版社的人表示有興趣.

4. Many people -- too many to count -- share your career conundrum.: 許多人 -- 多的數(shù)不過來 - 有著和你一樣的職業(yè)難題.