英['hʌmbʌɡ]美['hʌmbʌɡ]
记忆方法
词源词根法
hum，嗡嗡叫，欺骗，bug，鬼怪，鬼魂。引申词义谎言，骗人的把戏。这个有趣的单词始见于18世纪50年代，原来只是个较为流行的俚语，很有可能源于底层社会的行话。有人认为humbug系由hum（欺骗）和bug（虚惊）二词复合而成。Orrery伯爵首次将它收录时，称它是“一个听起来别扭可笑而又毫无意义的新造词语”。=humbug一词在19世纪十分流行，这可能要归功于美国游艺节目演出经理人巴纳姆（P.T.Barnum，1810—1891)。他用过一个短语the Prince of Humbug（诈骗专家），并说过一句这样的话“the American people like to be humbuggcd.”（美国人爱受人骗。）他在英国还以‘The Science of Money Making and the Philosophy of‘Humbug’（生财之道与诈骗哲学）为题作了讲演。狄更斯在其著名小说《圣诞颂歌》（A Christmas Carol）中也用过humbug一词，吝啬老头Ebenezer Scrooge在反驳圣诞幽灵时说了一句“Bah，humbug.”（呸，胡扯。）经狄更斯这一用humbug身价倍增，并得以流行全球。今天，humbug巳经完全从俚语升级为标准语，表示“骗子”“花招”“骗人的鬼话”等义。
noun(名词)
双解例句
noun(名词)
小知识
Humbug is language that's either deceptive or just ridiculous. Either way, it's verbal garbage and inspires people to mutter “Bah! Humbug!” — just like Scrooge did in A Christmas Carol.
Humbug is one of many words in English for language that can't be trusted. Humbug is like snake oil: it's deceptive, tricky, and meant to put one over on you. There's a slightly different type of humbug that refers to nonsense: speech or writing that's silly, pretentious, or just empty. When someone is talking a lot but saying nothing, they're talking humbug.