assailant
加害者
解説 Definition
assailant は、攻撃をした人、加害者という意味です。事件や犯罪の報道、警察の説明などで、被害者に危害を加えた人物を指して使われます。
An assailant is a person who physically attacks another person or, less commonly, launches a forceful verbal attack. In crime reports and police statements, the word usually refers to the attacker whose actions harmed or threatened a victim.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
assail「襲う」＋人を表す -ant なので「襲撃者・加害者」。ラテン語系の語形成では、動作をする人を -ant で示す例がある。犯罪報道や警察発表で the assailant、identify the assailant、search for the assailant と使う。offender より、実際に人を攻撃したという点が強い。
Break assailant into assail, “attack,” and -ant, an ending used for a person who performs an action. An assailant is therefore the person who attacks. Picture a police report containing the phrases “identify the assailant,” “search for the assailant,” and “the assailant fled.” These common combinations fix the word in its typical crime and news context. Assailant is more specific than offender, which can mean anyone who commits an offense, and it focuses on an attack against someone. Attacker is the more ordinary everyday synonym; assailant sounds more formal and is especially common in reporting.
例文
The victim could not identify the assailant.
被害者は加害者を特定できませんでした。
Police searched the area for the assailant.
警察はその地域で加害者を捜しました。
A witness said the assailant left the building quickly.
目撃者は、加害者が建物をすぐに出て行ったと話しました。
assailant の類義語・関連語
assailant の語源・成り立ち Etymology
assailant は assail「襲う」+ -ant「する人」から成る。assail は古フランス語 assaillir、さらにラテン語 ad-「〜へ」+ salire「跳ぶ」にさかのぼり、相手に飛びかかる人という像から「加害者」になった。関連語は assault, sally。
Assailant was borrowed from French and is built on assail with the agent ending -ant, meaning a person who performs an action. Assail comes through Old French assaillir from Latin assilire, a form of assilire or assalire meaning “to leap upon” or “attack.” The Latin formation combines ad-, “toward,” with salire, “to jump.” The image of leaping toward someone developed naturally into the sense of attacking, and assailant came to denote the attacker.
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