spitting image

短语

n. 简直一模一样的人

发音

UK /ˈspɪtɪŋ ˈɪmɪdʒ/

词形变化

spit and image spitting images 复数 spitting images

别名

spittin' image

释义与例句

n.
  1. 1.

    The exact likeness (of someone); speaking/living image.

    一模一样

    活像

    非正式

    You're the spitting image of my brother.

词汇关系

名词

上位词 3

likeness alikeness similitude

词源

An alteration of the earlier spitten image (see spitten). A popular folk etymology explains this phrase as deriving from the idea of a father spitting out a child whole from his mouth, as if giving birth. But spitten image actually developed from spit and image, where spit in this context means “likeness”. Terban further suggests a derivation of this sense of spit from the word spirit, but evidence for this is lacking. Another theory is that the idiom is Biblical, after an image of God spitting into dry earth to make the clay out of which Adam would be formed.

来源：wiktionary