kemptとは 意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /kɛm(p)t/
• 韻: -ɛmpt

語源 1

Partly from both of the following:

• An adjective use of kempt, the past participle of kemb (“(obsolete except UK, dialectal) to comb”), from 中期英語 kemben (“to comb (oneself or someone, or something); to card (wool, etc.); to make (something) elegant or smooth; (figurative) to make (something) gentle”) (compare the past participle forms kempde, kempte), from 古期英語 cemban (“to comb”) from Proto-West Germanic *kambijan (“to comb, kemb”), from Proto-Germanic *kambijaną (“to comb, kemb”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos (“tooth; row of teeth”), from *ǵembʰ- (“to bite, chomp; to crunch”).
• A back-formation from unkempt.

形容詞

kempt (comparative more kempt, superlative most kempt)

1. (archaic)

   Antonym: unkempt

   1. Of a person's beard or hair: combed.
      • 1867, Virgil, “Book X”, in John Benson Rose, transl., The Æneis of Virgil, London: Dorrell & Son, […], →OCLC, page 307, lines 909–910:

        Faint and in pain he propped his weary head, / And his kempt beard adown his bosom spread.

      • 1907, Barbara Baynton, “Human Toll: Chapter 6”, in Sally Krimmer, Alan Lawson, editors, Barbara Baynton: Bush Studies, Other Stories, Human Toll, Verse Essays and Letters (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St. Lucia, Brisbane, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, →ISBN, page 189:

        For a moment Boshy thought his senses were playing up with him, for there in the door entrance stood the identical girl—the same turkey-egg complexion, stubby nose, and her red hair only changed from unkempt to kempt.

   2. (spinning) Of wool or other fibres: combed.
      • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VIII.] Divers Kinds of Wooll and Clothes.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 228:

        [W]hen maidens vvere to be vvedded, there attended upon them a diſtaffe, dreſſed and trimmed vvith kembed vvooll, as alſo a ſpindle and yearne upon it.

2. (figurative, now usually humorous) Neat and tidy.

   Synonyms: well-groomed; see also Thesaurus:orderly

   Antonyms: ill-kempt, unkempt; see also Thesaurus:disorderly, Thesaurus:unkempt

   • 1929 July, Richard Aldington, chapter XII, in Death of a Hero […], New York, N.Y.: Covici-Friede, published October 1929, →OCLC, part 3 (Adagio), page 359:

     The street paving was badly worn, but looked marvelously smooth and kempt to Winterbourne, accustomed to roads worn into deep ruts and reft with shell-holes.

   • 1982, Michael Blodgett, “Meadowbrook”, in Captain Blood, New York, N.Y.: Harmony Books, →ISBN, part III, page 288:

     He could see her now: middle-aged, gray hair, well kempt, European-looking.

使用する際の注意点

• Less common than unkempt. Often used in the compound well-kempt or the phrase well kempt, which may be criticized as redundant; compare well-groomed and well-kept.

派生語

• ill-kempt
• unkempt
• well-kempt

語源 2

From kemb +‎ -t (suffix forming the past tense and/or past participle forms of verbs).

動詞

kempt

1. simple past and past participle of kemb.

   Synonym: kembed

参照

Further reading

• combing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia