🇨🇳Chinese Source WordCode: ZH

折磨

Native Script:中文汉字

Pronunciation / Transliteration: zhémó

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Ordeal/ɔːrˈdiː.əl/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #4500 frequency
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🇨🇳 Example Sentence in Chinese:

"这次漫长的疾病对他来说是一场巨大的折磨。"

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A very difficult, painful, or harrowing experience, trial, or test.

    "The hostages survived a terrifying three-week ordeal."
  2. 2

    An ancient test of guilt or innocence in which the accused was subjected to dangerous or painful physical trials.

    "In medieval times, trial by ordeal was frequently used when human testimony proved inconclusive."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the Old English word 'ordāl', meaning 'judgment' or 'trial', stemming from Proto-Germanic *uzdailją (out + to deal/divide). Historically, it referred to an ancient judicial test of guilt or innocence involving painful physical trials, later evolving to denote any extremely severe, harrowing, or trying experience.

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