sycophant

• n. 諂媚者；奉承者
• adj. 奉承的；拍馬的

來自拉丁語 sycopanta,來自希臘語 sykophantes,告密者，誹謗者，字麵意思為展示無花果的人， 來自 sykon,無花果，-phant,顯現，展示，詞源同 epiphany,phantasm.其詞源說法不一，其中兩

sycophant

sycophant: [16] Sycophants are etymologically ‘fig-showers’. The word comes via Latin sychophanta from Greek súkophántēs, a compound formed from súkon ‘fig’ and -phántēs ‘shower’, a derivative of phaínein ‘show’ (source of English fancy, phantom, etc). Súkon (which probably came from a Semitic source that also produced Latin ficus ‘fig’, source of English fig) was used metaphorically for ‘cunt’, and hence for an ‘indecent gesture made by putting the thumb into the mouth or between two fingers’.

People who grassed on criminals were said to ‘show them the fig’ – ‘show them two fingers’, as it might be expressed in modern English. And so the term súkophántēs came to be used for an ‘informer’, and eventually, via ‘one who ingratiates himself by informing’, for a ‘flatterer’ or ‘toady’.
=> fancy, phantom, sycamore

sycophant (n.)

1530s (in Latin form sycophanta), "informer, talebearer, slanderer," from Middle French sycophante and directly from Latin sycophanta, from Greek sykophantes "false accuser, slanderer," literally "one who shows the fig," from sykon "fig" (see fig) + phainein "to show" (see phantasm). "Showing the fig" was a vulgar gesture made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, itself symbolic of a vagina (sykon also meant "vulva"). The modern accepted explanation is that prominent politicians in ancient Greece held aloof from such inflammatory gestures, but privately urged their followers to taunt their opponents. The sense of "mean, servile flatterer" is first recorded in English 1570s.

The explanation, long current, that it orig. meant an informer against the unlawful exportation of figs cannot be substantiated. [OED]

1. But I'll be damned if I'll be blocked by some sycophant in the White House.

但我可能被那些白宮裏的馬屁精所詛咒.

來自電影對白

2. She was all over him at the office party. what a sycophant!

辦公室聚會的時候,他對她大鮮殷勤, 好個馬屁精!

來自互聯網

3. A sycophant flatterer is neither a guru or a preacher.

一個諂媚者既非古茹也不是傳教士.

來自互聯網

4. Bestowing favor on a dubious sycophant often lead to the downfall of dynasties.

寵用奸佞是曆代王朝亡國的重要原因.

來自互聯網