英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

cuckold (v.)[cuckold 词源字典]: 1580s, from cuckold (n.). Related: Cuckolded; cuckolding.[cuckold etymology, cuckold origin, 英语词源]
cuckoo (n.): mid-13c., from Old French cocu "cuckoo," also "cuckold," echoic of the male bird's mating cry (compare Greek kokkyx, Latin cuculus, Middle Irish cuach, Sanskrit kokilas). Slang adjectival sense of "crazy" is American English, 1918, but noun meaning "stupid person" is recorded by 1580s, perhaps from the bird's unvarying, oft-repeated call. The Old English name was geac, cognate with Old Norse gaukr, source of Scottish and northern English gowk. The Germanic words presumably originally were echoic, too, but had drifted in form. Cuckoo clock is from 1789.
cucumber (n.): late 14c., from Old French cocombre (13c., Modern French concombre), from Latin cucumerem (nominative cucumis), perhaps from a pre-Italic Mediterranean language. The Latin word also is the source of Italian cocomero, Spanish cohombro, Portuguese cogombro. Replaced Old English eorþæppla (plural), literally "earth-apples."

Cowcumber was common form 17c.-18c., and that pronunciation lingered into 19c. Planted as a garden vegetable by 1609 by Jamestown colonists. Phrase cool as a cucumber (c. 1732) embodies ancient folk knowledge confirmed by science in 1970: inside of a field cucumber on a warm day is 20 degrees cooler than the air temperature.
cud (n.): Old English cudu "cud," earlier cwudu, common Germanic (compare Old Norse kvaða "resin," Old High German quiti "glue," German Kitt "putty"); perhaps from PIE root *gwet- "resin, gum."
cuddle (v.): early 16c. (implied in cudlyng), perhaps a variant or frequentative form of obsolete cull, coll "to embrace" (see collar (n.)); or perhaps from Middle English *couthelen, from couth "known," hence "comfortable with." It has a spotty early history and seems to have been a nursery word at first. Related: Cuddled; cuddling.
cuddly (adj.): 1863, from cuddle + -y (2).
cudgel (n.): Old English cycgel "club with rounded head;" perhaps from PIE root *geu- "to curve, bend."
cudgel (v.): "to beat with a cudgel," 1590s, from cudgel (n.). Related: Cudgeled; cudgeling.
cue (v.): 1928, from cue (n.1). Related: Cued, cueing.
cue (n.1): "stage direction," 1550s, from Q, which was used 16c., 17c. in stage plays to indicate actors' entrances, probably as an abbreviation of Latin quando "when" (see quandary) or a similar Latin adverb. Shakespeare's printed texts have it as both Q and cue.
cue (n.2): "billiard stick," 1749, variant of queue (n.). Cue ball first recorded 1881.
cuff (v.1): "to put a cuff on," 1690s, from cuff (n.). Related: Cuffed; cuffing.
cuff (n.): "bottom of a sleeve," mid-14c., cuffe "hand covering, mitten, glove," perhaps somehow from Medieval Latin cuffia "head covering," which is of uncertain origin. Sense of "band around the sleeve" is first attested 1520s; sense of "hem of trousers" is 1911. Off the cuff "extemporaneously" is 1938 American English colloquial, suggesting an actor or speaker reading from notes jotted on his shirt sleeves rather than learned lines. Cuff links is from 1897.
cuff (v.2): "hit," 1520s, of unknown origin, perhaps from Swedish kuffa "to thrust, push." Related: Cuffed; cuffing. As a noun from 1560s.
cui bono: a Latin phrase from Cicero. It means "to whom for a benefit," or "who profits by it?" not "to what good purpose?" as is often erroneously claimed. From cui "to? for whom?," an old form preserved here in the dative form of the interrogative pronoun quis "who?" (see who) + bono "good" (see bene-).
cuirass (n.): "armor for the chest and back," mid-15c., from Middle French cuirasse (15c.), from Late Latin coriacea vestis "garment of leather," from Latin corium "leather, hide" (see corium). Cognate with Italian corazza, Spanish coraza, Portuguese couraça.
cuisine (n.): 1786, from French cuisine "style of cooking," originally "kitchen, cooking, cooked food" (12c.), from Late Latin cocina, earlier coquina "kitchen," from Latin coquere "to cook" (see cook (n.)).
cul-de-sac (n.): 1738, as an anatomical term, from French cul-de-sac, literally "bottom of a sack," from Latin culus "bottom, backside, fundament." For second element, see sack (n.1). Application to streets and alleys is from 1800.
culdee (n.): mid-12c., from Old Irish céle de "anchorite," from cele "associate, companion," sometimes "servant" (compare ceilidh) + de "of God." Perhaps an attempt to translate Servus Dei or some other Latin term for "religious hermit."
culinary (adj.): 1630s, "of the kitchen," from Latin culinarius "pertaining to the kitchen," from culina "kitchen, food" (see kiln). Meaning "of cookery" is from 1650s.