"to pledge" (obsolete except in archaic plight one's troth), from Old English pligtan, plihtan "to endanger, imperil, compromise," verb form of pliht (n.) "danger, risk" (see plight (n.2)). Related: Plighted; plighting.
plight (n.1)
"condition or state (usually bad)," late 12c., "danger, harm, strife," from Anglo-French plit, pleit, Old French pleit, ploit "condition" (13c.), originally "way of folding," from Vulgar Latin *plictum, from Latin plicitum, neuter past participle of Latin plicare "to fold, lay" (see ply (v.1)).
Originally in neutral sense (as in modern French en bon plit "in good condition"), sense of "harmful state" (and current spelling) probably is from convergence and confusion with plight (n.2) via notion of "entangling risk, pledge or promise with great risk to the pledger."
plight (n.2)
"pledge," mid-13c., "pledge, promise," usually involving risk or loss in default, from Old English pliht "danger, risk, peril, damage," from Proto-Germanic *pleg- (cognates: Old Frisian plicht "danger, concern, care," Middle Dutch, Dutch plicht "obligation, duty," Old High German pfliht, German Pflicht "obligation, duty" (see plight (v.)). Compare Old English plihtere "look-out man at the prow of a ship," plihtlic "perilous, dangerous."
双语例句
1. The country's economic plight is strangling its scientific institutions.
该国的经济困境阻碍了其科研机构的工作进展。
来自柯林斯例句
2. He just wants to draw attention to the plight of the unemployed.
他仅仅是想引起人们对失业者困境的关注。
来自柯林斯例句
3. They bore their plight with stoicism and fortitude.
他们以坚忍刚毅的精神直面困境。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The plight of the Kurds gained global visibility.
