cocktail
カクテル
解説 Definition
cocktail は、酒にジュースなどを混ぜた「カクテル」という意味です。日本語のカクテルとほぼ同じですが、英語では比喩的に「混合物」を指すこともあります。
A cocktail is an alcoholic drink made by mixing spirits with ingredients such as juice, syrup, bitters, or other beverages. The word can also figuratively describe a mixture of several different elements.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
日本語の「カクテル」とほぼ同じで、酒とジュースなど複数の材料を混ぜた飲み物です。order a cocktail、cocktail ingredients、cocktail menu の場面で覚えましょう。英語では a cocktail of drugs のように、複数の要素が混ざった「混合物」の比喩にも広がります。語形は cock＋tail ですが、飲み物名になった確実な経緯は不明です。
Connect cocktail with a bar scene: you order a cocktail, check its ingredients on the cocktail menu, and receive a drink made by mixing a spirit with juice, syrup, bitters, or another beverage. This closely matches the Japanese loanword カクテル. The key idea is “a prepared mixture,” which also explains figurative phrases such as a cocktail of drugs or a dangerous cocktail of factors. Although the spelling visibly contains cock and tail, the historical reason this compound became the name of a mixed drink is uncertain, so use the modern image of mixed ingredients rather than inventing a literal rooster story.
例文
She ordered a fruit cocktail at the bar.
彼女はバーでフルーツカクテルを注文しました。
This cocktail is sweet and easy to drink.
このカクテルは甘くて飲みやすいです。
The menu lists each cocktail with its ingredients.
メニューには、それぞれのカクテルと材料が載っています。
cocktail の類義語・関連語
cocktail の語源・成り立ち Etymology
cocktail は語源未詳ですが、18世紀英語 cock-tail「尾を立てた馬・雑種の馬」から来たという説が有力です。cock「雄鶏」+ tail「尾」の形で、純粋でない混ぜ物のイメージが酒にも移ったと考えると納得しやすいです。tail も関連語です。
The origin of cocktail is uncertain. The written form combines cock, “rooster,” and tail, and cock-tail was used in the eighteenth century in references to horses, including horses with docked or raised tails and, later, animals of mixed breeding. How this expression became the name of a mixed alcoholic drink is disputed. By the early nineteenth century, cocktail was established in American English for a stimulating mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters.
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