c. 1200, from Anglo-French conis, plural of conil "long-eared rabbit" (Lepus cunicula) from Latin cuniculus (source of Spanish conejo, Portuguese coelho, Italian coniglio), the small, Spanish variant of the Italian hare (Latin lepus), the word perhaps from Iberian Celtic (classical writers say it is Spanish).
Rabbit arose 14c. to mean the young of the species, but gradually pushed out the older word 19c., after British slang picked up coney as a punning synonym for cunny "cunt" (compare connyfogle "to deceive in order to win a woman's sexual favors"). The word was in the King James Bible [Prov. xxx:26, etc.], however, so it couldn't be entirely dropped, and the solution was to change the pronunciation of the original short vowel (rhyming with honey, money) to rhyme with boney. In the Old Testament, the word translates Hebrew shaphan "rock-badger." Rabbits not being native to northern Europe, there was no Germanic or Celtic word for them.
双语例句
1. Let's go to Coney Island, old sport.
咱俩到康尼岛去玩吧, 老兄.
来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比
2. Renate was greatly annoyed when I said that she must come to Coney Island with me.
当我向莱娜达提出她必须陪我走一趟科尼岛时,她大为恼火.
来自辞典例句
3. I'm sorry ? - You got IsIand Towers , I got Coney IsIand.
什么 ? - 你拿到了你的项目, 我挽救了社区中心.
来自互联网
4. I'm here representing the Coney IsIand Community Center. It was buiIt in 1922.
我此行的目的代表科尼岛社区活动中心, 它建于1922年.
来自互联网
5. Coney Island: It is a historic beach and famous amusement park.
