testy: [14] Testy means etymologically ‘heady’. It was borrowed from Anglo-Norman testif, a derivative of Old French teste ‘head’ (ancestor of modern French tête). This in turn went back to Latin testa ‘tile, earthenware pot’ (a relative of testum, from which English gets test), which in the post-classical period was used humorously for ‘head’. English acquired testy in the sense ‘headstrong, impetuous’, but by the 16th century it had shifted via ‘impatient’ to ‘irritable’. => test
testy (adj.)
early 15c., "impetuous, rash," altered from Middle English testif "headstrong" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French testif, Old French testu (Modern French têtu) "stubborn, headstrong, obstinate," literally "heady," from teste "head" (see tete). Meaning "easily irritated, irascible" is first recorded 1520s. Related: Testily; testiness.
实用例句
1. Ben's getting a little testy in his old age.
上了年纪后本变得有点性急了。
来自辞典例句
2. Jack Pan: Who influenced you in your art testy?
潘杰客: 你的艺术品味受到谁的影响?
来自互联网
3. They become lamb cropschops Testy once Tasty ones , says Daivd David Johnson.
