plight

n. 困境；境况；誓约

vt. 保证；约定

中文词源

plight 誓言，誓约，订婚

来自古英语pliht,有风险的承诺，危险，风险，来自Proto-Germanic*pleg,承诺，责任，担保，来自PIE*dlegh,忙于，从事于，责任，承诺，来自PIE*del,长的，词源同long,play,pledge.引申词义誓言，誓约，特别是郑重的誓言，如订婚。

plight 苦难，困境

来自古法语pleit,情况，来自拉丁语plicare,卷入，卷进，词源同ply,complex.后主要用于指坏的情况，引申词义苦难，困境。词义部分受到上一词义的影响。

plight: plight: see pleat
plight (v.): "to pledge" (obsolete except in archaic plight one's troth), from Old English pligtan, plihtan "to endanger, imperil, compromise," verb form of pliht (n.) "danger, risk" (see plight (n.2)). Related: Plighted; plighting.
plight (n.1): "condition or state (usually bad)," late 12c., "danger, harm, strife," from Anglo-French plit, pleit, Old French pleit, ploit "condition" (13c.), originally "way of folding," from Vulgar Latin *plictum, from Latin plicitum, neuter past participle of Latin plicare "to fold, lay" (see ply (v.1)).

Originally in neutral sense (as in modern French en bon plit "in good condition"), sense of "harmful state" (and current spelling) probably is from convergence and confusion with plight (n.2) via notion of "entangling risk, pledge or promise with great risk to the pledger."
plight (n.2): "pledge," mid-13c., "pledge, promise," usually involving risk or loss in default, from Old English pliht "danger, risk, peril, damage," from Proto-Germanic *pleg- (cognates: Old Frisian plicht "danger, concern, care," Middle Dutch, Dutch plicht "obligation, duty," Old High German pfliht, German Pflicht "obligation, duty" (see plight (v.)). Compare Old English plihtere "look-out man at the prow of a ship," plihtlic "perilous, dangerous."

1. 扑过去，把希望之光扑灭了.2. 扑灭了光。3. 扑灭了光亮就会一片黑暗，陷入困境。

1. The country's economic plight is strangling its scientific institutions.: 该国的经济困境阻碍了其科研机构的工作进展。

2. He just wants to draw attention to the plight of the unemployed.: 他仅仅是想引起人们对失业者困境的关注。