hunch 復習
Perhaps the admissions office just had a hunch that this was the genius who was finally going to bring peace to the Middle East. (Skip the rest)
今回取り上げる語は、hunch /hʌn(t)ʃ/ です。文脈から「確信」と推測しました。以下で意味等を確認していきます。
まず意味を Cambridge Dictionary でみると、“an idea that is based on feeling and for which there is no proof” とあり、LDOCE には “if you have a hunch that something is true or will happen, you feel that it is true or will happen” と定義されていました。
次に語源を OED でみると、“Late 15th century: of unknown origin. The original meaning was ‘push, shove’ (noun and verb), a sense retained now in Scots as a noun, and in US dialect as a verb. Sense 1 of the noun derives probably from a US sense of the verb ‘nudge someone in order to draw attention to something’.” とあります。
以上のことから、hunch は「予感」という意味を持つことがわかりました。(OkaUchi)
