handicap
ハンディキャップ
解説 Definition
handicap は不利な条件、ハンディキャップという意味です。日本語の「ハンディ」と近い使い方もありますが、人の障害については英語では disability などの語がより適切な場合があります。
A handicap is a condition or circumstance that makes success or progress more difficult, such as limited experience or a small budget. In some sports, it is an adjustment intended to give competitors of different abilities a fair chance; disability is generally preferred when discussing a person’s impairment.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
handicap は競技で実力差を公平にするための条件から、「成功を難しくする不利な条件」へ広がった語です。a handicap for the team、become a serious handicap の形で覚えましょう。人の心身の状態を述べる場合は、現在では disability のほうが中立的で適切なことが多い点にも注意します。
Remember handicap through the idea of an imposed disadvantage or adjustment. In sports, a handicap can balance competitors of unequal ability; from there, the noun came to mean any condition that makes success harder. Picture a team trying to compete with little experience or a very small budget. Common patterns include “a handicap for the team,” “a serious handicap,” and “overcome a handicap.” When referring to a person’s physical or mental condition, disability or a more specific neutral term is usually more appropriate in present-day English.
例文
Lack of experience was a handicap for the team.
経験不足はそのチームにとって不利な条件でした。
The small budget became a serious handicap.
少ない予算は大きなハンディキャップになりました。
Early practice helped reduce his handicap in the competition.
早めに練習したことで、彼は大会での不利を減らせました。
handicap の類義語・関連語
紛らわしい語
handicap の語源・成り立ち Etymology
17世紀の英国の賭けゲーム「hand in cap（帽子に手を入れる）」に由来。帽子に賭け金を入れて公平に差をつける仕組みから、競馬で強い馬に重りを課す意味になり、さらに不利な条件全般を指すようになった。capはラテン語cappa（頭巾）と同根。
Handicap developed from the seventeenth-century trading and betting game hand-in-cap, in which participants placed money or forfeit payments into a cap as part of an equalizing procedure. The term later entered horse racing, where stronger horses could be assigned extra weight to balance competition. From that sporting sense, it broadened to mean any circumstance that places someone or something at a disadvantage.
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