His speech was so anaemic that it failed to inspire anyone.

anaemic 是形容词，来自名词 anaemia（贫血症），anaemia 由前缀 an-（表示“缺乏”）和希腊词根 haima（血液）组成。anaemic 本义是“贫血的”，引申为“缺乏活力的、苍白无力的”。