Learn English – what does “______, thy name is ______” mean

idioms

No only can I not get what the following sentence means, I fail to understand the concept of the bold part, as well.

Frailty, thy name is woman

"______, thy name is ______"

Best Answer

Frailty, thy name is woman

The meaning of the sentence is "women embody frailty to the full extent" or

The quality called "frailty" is most closely expressed by the object called "woman".

or, even:

Women are so frail that the words "frailty" and "woman" are equal in meaning.

That is, women are considered to be more delicate, more frail than men. The author of the sentence tries to express it in "high language", to add emphasis.

Other examples of the same structure:

Treachery thy name is government bureaucrat! (source)

It turns out there's a Wikipedia page about this structure: "Thy name is".

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