• vi. 化膿；怨恨；發炎
• vt. 使怨恨；使疼痛；使痛苦

來自古法語 rancle,縮寫自 draoncle,化膿，改寫自拉丁語 dracunculus,小蛇，小龍，詞源同 dragon, 龍。-uncle,小詞后綴。原指被蛇咬過的膿腫，發炎，引申詞義使痛苦，使怨恨。可能由該詞 衍生 rancid,rancor.

rankle

rankle: [14] Etymologically, if something rankles, it festers from the effects of a ‘dragon’s’ bite. Nowadays the word is only used metaphorically, but it originally meant literally ‘be sore, fester’. It was borrowed from Old French rancler, a variant of draoncler. This was derived from draoncle ‘ulcer’, which in turn came from dranculus, the medieval Latin descendant of dracunculus, a diminutive form of Latin dracō ‘snake’ (source of English dragon). The notion underlying the word is of an ulcer caused by the bite of a snake.
=> dragon

rankle (v.)

c. 1300, "to fester," from Old French rancler, earlier raoncler, draoncler "to suppurate, run," from draoncle "abscess, festering sore," from Medieval Latin dracunculus, literally "little dragon," diminutive of Latin draco "serpent, dragon" (see dragon). The notion is of an ulcer caused by a snake's bite. Meaning "cause to fester" is from c. 1400. Related: Rankled; rankling.

1. You burrow and rankle in his heart!

你挖掘并折磨他的心靈!

來自英漢文學 - 紅字

2. The dimensions of the Brys'ballroom must rankle her.

百利太太那間大舞廳一定惹得她妒火中燒.

來自辭典例句