wry

adj. 歪斜的，扭歪的；歪曲的

vt. 扭曲；扭歪

vi. 扭曲；扭歪

中文词源

wry 啼笑皆非的，揶揄的

来自PIE*wer,弯，转，词源同wring,wriggle。引申义扭曲的，啼笑皆非的。

wry: wry: [16] Wry means literally ‘twisted’ (many other English words beginning with wr-, such as wrist and writhe, share the same basic meaning). It comes from the now obsolete verb wry ‘deviate, twist’, which was descended from Old English wrīgian ‘turn, tend in a particular direction’. Wriggle [15] is probably related.
=> wriggle
wry (adj.): 1520s, "distorted, somewhat twisted to one side," from obsolete verb wry "to contort, to twist or turn," from Old English wrigian "to turn, bend, move, go," from Proto-Germanic *wrig- (cognates: Old Frisian wrigia "to bend," Middle Low German wrich "turned, twisted"), from PIE *wreik- "to turn" (cognates: Greek rhoikos "crooked," Lithuanian raisas "paralysed"), from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus). Of words, thoughts, etc., from 1590s. The original sense is preserved in awry.

1. see wrench.2. wrong => wry.3. wrong => wry, wring.4. 错误就是歪曲了正确的方向，所以离正确越来越远。

3. This book is suffused with Shaw's characteristic wry Irish humour.: 这本书充满了萧伯纳独特的爱尔兰式幽默与嘲讽。