hoodlum

英 ['hu?dl?m] 美['hudl?m]

復(fù)數(shù):?hoodlums;

hoodlum 暴徒，惡棍

詞源不詳，特別用于指美國加利福尼亞州19世紀(jì)70年代欺負(fù)中國移民的街頭流氓，一種說法是來自”huddle ‘em”,即huddle them,類似于攻擊中國移民的暗號，后來報紙就把這幫人稱做hoodlum.

hoodlum (n.): popularized 1871, American English, (identified throughout the 1870s as "a California word") "young street rowdy, loafer," especially one involved in violence against Chinese immigrants, "young criminal, gangster;" it appears to have been in use locally from a slightly earlier date and may have begun as a specific name of a gang:
The police have recently been investigating the proceedings of a gang of thieving boys who denominate themselves and are known to the world as the Hoodlum Gang. [San Francisco "Golden Era" newspaper, Feb. 16, 1868, p.4]
Of unknown origin, though newspapers of the day printed myriad fanciful stories concocted to account for it. A guess perhaps better than average is that it is from German dialectal (Bavarian) Huddellump "ragamuffin" [Barnhart].
What the derivation of the word "hoodlum" is we could never satisfactorily ascertain, though several derivations have been proposed; and it would appear that the word has not been very many years in use. But, however obscure the word may be, there is nothing mysterious about the thing; .... [Walter M. Fisher, "The Californians," London, 1876]

1. If I was a hoodlum I could hit you on the head.: 如果我是強(qiáng)盜的話,我可以猛擊你的頭.

4. He is a well - known hoodlum in this neighborhood , always bullying others.: 他是這邊有名的混子, 經(jīng)常欺負(fù)人.