Today we mark the 1921 theatrical premiere of The Sheik, the silent film that turns 85 years old today. Although its star, Rudolph Valentino, was already famous by 1921, the success of that movie helped the 26 year old become nothing short of a sex symbol. (来源：英语学习门户网站EnglishCN.com)

The movie's popularity also helped the word sheik develop its secondary sense: "a man supposed to be endowed with an irresistible fascination in the eyes of romantic young women." Rudolph Valentino was the Sheik (and then, in the sequel, the Son of the Sheik) who mesmerizes and charms young women.

The word sheik comes from Arabic, of course (the Italian-born Valentino played the role of Mideastern desert Sheik Ahmed); in Arabic, sheik refers to the head of an Arab family, clan, tribe, or village, or to an Arab chief. It is also used as a title or form of respectful address.

The many romances and sudden, early death of Valentino five years later undoubtedly helped secure the legend of the leading man and of the sense of sheik used for the man who had astutely observed "Women are not in love with me but with the picture of me on the screen. I am merely the canvas on which women paint their dreams."