diffident

１．今日の単語は diffident です。どんな意味かまずは例文から予想してみましょう。

Tony Currie interview: ‘I was one of them idiots who thought he could go on forever as a footballer’ Saved from oblivion by Sheffield United, Currie opens on his struggles after retirement, being snubbed by Don Revie and that kissing picture. — But then, for all the confidence he exuded on the pitch, off it Currie was plagued with self-doubt. —Shy, awkward and diffident, he found life away from kicking a ball a constant struggle. “Yes, the pitch was an escape,” he says. “Not that I knew it at the time. My first wife called me a Jekyll and Hyde. Though that was not for my football.” (from the Telegraph)

ある元サッカー選手についての記事。彼はシャイで、おどおどしていて、diffident だったようです。

What’s the word for a word that sends you to the dictionary? – Sanguine. Bathos. Anodyne. You know these words, but do you really? Just like diffident and palimpsest. Limpid and supine. Bucolic and escrow. Welcome to the slippery realm of lapsonyms, those words that demand a trip to the dictionary. (from the Sydney Morning Herald)

lapsonyms、、、よくわからなかったですが、ネイティブでも何度も辞書で調べてしまう単語があるよね、ということかな。。。

Helen was diffident and reserved.

ヘレンは diffident で控えめ。

You shouldn’t be so diffident about your achievements – you’ve done really well!

よくやった！あまり控えめになりすぎる必要はないですね。

He entered the room with a certain diffidence.

なんとなく想像がつく光景ですね。もじもじして入ってきたのでしょうか。

２．イメージは浮かびましたか。では、英英辞典と英和辞典の意味を確認しておきましょう。

shy and not confident of your abilities:

Someone who is diffident is rather shy and does not enjoy talking about themselves or being noticed by other people.

lacking confidence in one’s own ability, worth, or fitness; timid; shy.

restrained or reserved in manner, conduct, etc.

〔人や性格が〕自信のない、内気な

〔言動が〕遠慮がちな、自制した

今日の単語は

diffident

自信なさげな、遠慮がちな

でした

2か月前の単語は

sweltering うだるような

https://himekurieitango.sweltering