| 词组 | complected |
| 释义 | complected Not an error, nor a dialectal term, nor an illiteracy, nor nonstandard—all of which it has been labeled—complected is simply an Americanism, and apparently a 19th-century Americanism. It seems to be nonexistent in British English. It is attested as early as 1806 in the Journals of Lewis & Clark, used by Meriwether Lewis. Until the early 20th century it excited no notice except from compilers of Americanisms and regional terms. (Those who subscribe to the opinion that it is regional dialect—such as Harper 1985—should know that the Dictionary of American Regional English reports it "widespread.") Beginning with Vizetelly 1906, however, it began to raise hackles, and it has been variously aspersed in nearly every American handbook and usage book published from that time to the present. No British book mentions it. There seems to be no very substantial objection to the term, other than the considerable diffidence American usage writers feel about Americanisms. It is irregularly formed, to be sure, but so are many other words. It has been used by some of our better-known authors: • You look lots like yer mother: Purty much same in size; • And about the same complected—James Whitcomb Riley, Love-Lyrics, 1883 • Here is the dark-complected hand with a potato on its fork ... there the light-complected head's got it —Mark Twain, Those Extraordinary Twins, 1894 (,4 Mark Twain Lexicon, 1938) • A heavy-sot man, sandy complected —O. Henry, The Trimmed Lamp, 1916 (OED Supplement) • ... the man they meant wasn't dark complected — William Faulkner, Light in August, 1932 (OED Supplement) • ... a blue-eyed, fair-complected man —A. B. Guthrie, Jr., The Way West, 1949 • ... a tall, thin man, fairly dark complected —E. J. Kahn, Jr., The Peculiar War, 1952 • ... his face, though lined a little, was fresh and well complected —Robert Penn Warren, Band of Angels, 1955 • ... a stocky man with a red-complected shining brown face —E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime, 1975 Complexioned, universally recommended as a substitute for complected, has less use than complected: • ... all look too coarse complexioned and dowdy — Henry Adams, letter, 17 May 1859 • ... a red-complexioned man of medium height — Santha Rama Rau, The Reporter, 16 Mar. 1954 • ... the pale-complexioned women —Alan Moore-head, New Yorker, 1 May 1954 • A heavy-set, swarthy-complexioned man —Vern E. Smith, The Jones Men, 1974 Our recent evidence shows that neither of these words is in very frequent use in print. Here are two examples: • Mussels in a tangy ravigote dressing have been right on the mark on several tries: corpulent, clear-complected specimens —Jay Jacobs, Gourmet, May 1982 • He is pink-complexioned with lemon-colored hair —W. P. Kinsella, Sports Illustrated, 14 Apr. 1986 While both are still in use, many writers apparently avoid using either one. Literary use slightly favors complected. |
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