英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

bice (n.)[bice 词源字典]: "pale blue color," early 15c., shortened from blew bis "blue bice," from French bis "swarthy, brownish-gray" (12c.), cognate with Italian bigio; of unknown origin. Via French combinations azur bis, vert bis the word came into English with a sense of "blue" or "green."[bice etymology, bice origin, 英语词源]
bicentenary (adj.): "pertaining to a 200-year period," 1843; see bi- + centenary. Also see bicentennial. As a noun, "a bicentennial anniversary or celebration," also from 1843.
bicentennial: also bi-centennial, 1843 (adj.), 1871 (noun), American English, from bi- + centennial (q.v.). In rivalry with bicentenary (1831) which seems to have been the more common word in Britain.
bicep (n.): false singular of biceps (q.v.).
bicephalous (adj.): 1803, a hybrid from bi- + Latinized adjectival form of Greek kephale "head" (see cephalo-).
biceps: 1630s (adj.), from Latin biceps "having two parts," literally "two-headed," from bis "double" (see bis-) + -ceps comb. form of caput "head" (see capitulum). As a noun meaning "biceps muscle," from 1640s, so called for its structure. Despite the -s, it is singular, and classicists insist there is no such word as bicep.
bicipital (adj.): "having two heads," 1640s, from Latin biceps (genitive bicipitis); see biceps + -al (1).
bicker (v.): early 14c., bikere, "to skirmish, fight," perhaps from Middle Dutch bicken "to slash, stab, attack," + -er, Middle English frequentative suffix. Meaning "to quarrel" is from mid-15c. Related: Bickered; bickering.
bicker (n.): c. 1300, skirmish, battle; from the same source as bicker (v.). In modern use, often to describe the sound of a flight of an arrow or other repeated, loud, rapid sounds, in which sense it is perhaps at least partly echoic.
bickering (n.): c. 1300, "a skirmish," from bicker (v.). Meaning "a verbal wrangle" is from 1570s.
bickering (adj.): 1808 in the sense of "contentious," present participle adjective from bicker (v.). Earlier it was used to mean "flashing, quivering" (1660s).
bicoastal (adj.): also bi-coastal, by 1977 in reference to the East and West coasts of the U.S. (or, specifically, New York and Los Angeles); from bi- + coastal.
bicuspid (adj.): 1826, "having two parts," from bi- + Latin cuspidem "cusp, point." As a noun, short for bicuspid molar, attested from 1837.
bicycle (n.): 1868, coined from bi- "two" + Greek kyklos "circle, wheel" (see cycle (n.)), on the pattern of tricycle; both the word and the vehicle superseding earlier velocipede. The English word probably is not from French, though often said to be (many French sources say the French word is from English). The assumption apparently is because Pierre Lallement, employee of a French carriage works, improved Macmillan's 1839 pedal velocipede in 1865 and took the invention to America. See also pennyfarthing. As a verb, from 1869.
That ne plus ultra of snobbishness -- bicyclism. [1876]
bicyclist (n.): 1869, from bicycle + -ist.
bid (v.): probably an early Middle English mutual influence or confusion of two old words: The sense in bid farewell is from Old English biddan "to ask, entreat, beg, pray, beseech; order" (class V strong verb, past tense bæd, past participle beden), from Proto-Germanic *bidjan "to pray, entreat" (source also of German bitten "to ask," attested in Old High German from 8c., also Old Saxon bidjan, Old Frisian bidda, Old Norse biðja, Gothic bidjan). This, according to Kluge and Watkins, is from a PIE root *gwhedh- "to ask, pray" (see bead (n.)).

To bid at an auction, meanwhile, is from Old English beodan "offer, proclaim" (class II strong verb; past tense bead, past participle boden), from Proto-Germanic *beudan "to stretch out, reach out, offer, present," (source also of German bieten "to offer," Old High German biatan, also Old Saxon biodan, Old Frisian biada, Old Norse bjoða, Gothic anabiudan "to command"). This is from PIE root *bheudh- "to be aware, make aware" (see bode (v.)). As a noun, 1788, from the verb.
bidden: past participle of bid and bide.
biddy (n.): "old woman," 1785; meaning "Irish maid-servant" (1861) is American English; both from Biddy, pet form of common Irish proper name Bridget.
bide (v.): Old English bidan "to stay, continue, live, remain," also "to trust, rely," from Proto-Germanic *bidan "to await" (cognates: Old Norse biða, Old Saxon bidan, Old Frisian bidia, Middle Dutch biden, Old High German bitan, Gothic beidan "to wait"), which is of uncertain origin. Possibly from PIE *bheidh- "to trust" (via notion of "to await trustingly"). Preserved in Scotland and northern England, replaced elsewhere by abide in all senses except to bide one's time. Related: Bided; biding.
bidet (n.): 1620s, "small horse," from French bidet (16c.), of unknown etymology. Originally in French "a small horse, a pony," thus "a vessel on a low narrow stand, which can be bestridden for bathing purposes," a sense attested in English from 1766.