handicap

• n. 障礙；不利條件，不利的因素
• vt. 妨礙，阻礙；使不利

來自短語hand in cap,一種流行於17世紀的娛樂遊戲，大致規則如下：甲乙雙方有兩件價值不同的物品，請丙當裁判來評估價差，然後補齊差價進行交換。同時，甲乙雙方交納保證金用手拿著放進帽子裏，如果裁判丙估出的差價甲乙雙方都同意的話，則他們進行物品交換，同時保證金歸裁判，如果估出的差價甲乙雙方都不同意的話，物品不交換，但是保證金也歸裁判，如果一方同意另一方不同意，但是不同意的一方保證金歸同意的一方，物品不交換，但可以避免更大程度損失。其中的關鍵在於裁判為使個人的利益最大化，勢必要進行盡可能公正的估價，這樣才會樹立名聲，別人才會找他，如果甲乙雙方都認為裁判不公，則沒人再找這個裁判。並由該遊戲引申詞義讓步賽，如馬賽，球賽，棋賽等等，以及用於指殘疾人，生理缺陷的人，即需要讓的人，含冒犯意。

handicap

handicap: [17] The word handicap originally denoted a sort of game of chance in which one person put up one of his or her personal possessions against an article belonging to someone else (for example one might match a gold watch against the other’s horse) and an umpire was appointed to adjudicate on the respective values of the articles. All three parties put their hands into a hat, together with a wager, and on hearing the umpire’s verdict the two opponents had to withdraw them in such a way as to indicate whether they wished to proceed with the game.

If they agreed, either in favour of proceeding or against, the umpire took the money; but if they disagreed, the one who wanted to proceed took it. It was the concealing of the hands in the hat that gave the game its name hand in cap, hand i’ cap, source of modern English handicap. In the 18th century the same term was applied to a sort of horse race between two horses, in which an umpire decided on a weight disadvantage to be imposed on a superior horse and again the owners of the horses signalled their assent to or dissent from his adjudication by the way in which they withdrew their hands from a hat.

Such a race became known as a handicap race, and in the 19th century the term handicap first broadened out to any contest in which inequalities are artificially evened out, and was eventually transferred to the ‘disadvantage’ imposed on superior contestants – whence the main modern meaning, ‘disadvantage, disability’.

handicap (n.)

1650s, from hand in cap, a game whereby two bettors would engage a neutral umpire to determine the odds in an unequal contest. The bettors would put their hands holding forfeit money into a hat or cap. The umpire would announce the odds and the bettors would withdraw their hands -- hands full meaning that they accepted the odds and the bet was on, hands empty meaning they did not accept the bet and were willing to forfeit the money. If one forfeited, then the money went to the other. If both agreed either on forfeiting or going ahead with the wager, then the umpire kept the money as payment. The custom, though not the name, is attested from 14c. ("Piers Plowman").

Reference to horse racing is 1754 (Handy-Cap Match), where the umpire decrees the superior horse should carry extra weight as a "handicap;" this led to sense of "encumbrance, disability" first recorded 1890. The main modern sense, "a mental or physical disability," is the last to develop, early 20c.

handicap (v.)

"equalize chances of competitors," 1852, but implied in the horse-race sense from mid-18c., from handicap (n.). Meaning "put at a disadvantage" is from 1864. Earliest verbal sense, now obsolete, was "to gain as in a wagering game" (1640s). Related: Handicapped; handicapping.

1. I see your handicap is down from 16 to 12.

我發現你的差點已從16杆降到了12杆。

來自柯林斯例句

2. Some hearing-impaired children may work harder to overcome their handicap.

一些有聽障的兒童可能需要花更大的力氣來克服這一缺陷。

來自柯林斯例句

3. His golf handicap hovered between 10 and 12.

他的高爾夫球差點一直在10杆到12杆之間徘徊。

來自柯林斯例句

4. Being a foreigner was not a handicap.

身為外國人並不是一個障礙。

來自柯林斯例句

5. His vacuity was a handicap in these debates.

在這些辯論中，思想貧乏是他的一個弱點。

來自柯林斯例句