英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

pitcher (n.1)[pitcher 词源字典]: "earthen jug," c. 1200, from Old French pichier (12c.), altered from bichier, from Medieval Latin bicarium, probably from Greek bikos "earthen vessel" (see beaker). Pitcher-plant is recorded from 1819; so called for its resemblance.[pitcher etymology, pitcher origin, 英语词源]
pitcher (n.2): "one who pitches," 1722, agent noun from pitch (v.1). Originally of one tossing hay into a wagon, etc.; baseball sense first recorded 1845.
pitchfork (n.): mid-14c., altered (by influence of pichen "to throw, thrust;" see pitch (v.1)) from Middle English pic-forken (c. 1200), from pik (see pike (n.4)) + fork (n.). The verb is attested from 1837.
pitchman (n.): 1926, American English, from pitch (n.1) in the sales sense + man (n.).
piteous (adj.): c. 1300, from Anglo-French pitous, Old French pitos "pious; merciful, compassionate, moved to pity; pitiful" (12c., Modern French piteux), from Medieval Latin pietosus "merciful, pitiful," in Vulgar Latin "dutiful," from Latin pietas "dutiful conduct, compassion" (see piety). Related: Piteously; piteousness.
pitfall (n.): c. 1300, "concealed hole," a type of animal trap, from pit (n.1) + fall (n.). Extended sense of "any hidden danger" is first recorded early 15c.
pith (n.): Old English piþa "pith of plants," also "essential part," from West Germanic *pithan- (cognates: Middle Dutch pitte, Dutch pit, East Frisian pit), a Low German root of uncertain origin. Figurative sense was in Old English. Pith helmet (1889, earlier pith hat, 1884) so called because it is made from the dried pith of the Bengal spongewood.
pith (v.): "to kill by piercing the spinal cord," 1805, from pith (n.). Related: Pithed; pithing.
pithecanthropus (n.): genus of extinct primates, 1895, from Modern Latin, literally "monkey-man," from Greek pithekos "ape" + anthropos "man" (see anthropo-). Coined 1868 by Haeckel as a name for a hypothetical link between apes and men (attested in English in this sense from 1876); applied by Dr. Eugène Dubois (1858-1940), physician of the Dutch army in Java, to remains he found there in 1891.
pitheco-: before vowels pithec-, word-forming element meaning "pertaining to an ape or monkey," from Greek pithekos "ape."
pithy (adj.): early 14c., "strong, vigorous," from pith (n.) + -y (2). Meaning "full of substance or significance" is from 1520s; literal meaning "full of pith" not attested until 1560s. Related: Pithily; pithiness.
pitiable (adj.): mid-15c., "merciful, compassionate," from Old French piteable "compassionate, merciful, pious" (13c.; Modern French pitoyable), from piteer "to pity" (see pity). Meaning "deserving pity" is recorded from late 15c. Related: Pitiably.
pitiful (adj.): c. 1300, "merciful, compassionate" (implied in pitifully), from pity + -ful. Sense of "exciting or deserving pity" is from mid-15c.; that of "mean, wretched, contemptible" is 1580s. Related: Pitifulness.
pitiless (adj.): early 15c., from pity + -less. Related: Pitilessly; pitilessness.
piton (n.): 1898, from French piton "hook, peak of a mountain, piton, eyebolt," in Old French "nail, hook," from Vulgar Latin root *pitt- "point, peak" [Barnhart].
pits (n.): "the worst," by 1953, U.S. slang, said to be a shortened form of armpits.
pittance (n.): c. 1200, "pious donation to a religious house or order to provide extra food; the extra food provided," also "a small portion, scanty rations," from Old French pitance "pity, mercy, compassion; refreshment, nourishment; portion of food allowed a monk or poor person by a pious bequest," apparently literally "pity," from pitié (see pity). Meaning "small amount, portion" first recorded 1560s.
pituitary (adj.): 1610s, from Latin pituitarius "mucous," from pituita "clammy moisture, phlegm, mucus, slime," possibly from a suffixed form of PIE root *peie- "to be fat, swell" (see fat (adj.)). Taken as the name for the gland because it was believed that it channeled mucus to the nose. As a noun by 1899.
pity (n.): early 13c., from Old French pite, pitet "pity, mercy, compassion, care, tenderness; pitiful state, wretched condition" (11c., Modern French pitié), from Latin pietatem (nominative pietas) "piety, loyalty, duty" (see piety). Replaced Old English mildheortness, literally "mild-heartness," itself a loan-translation of Latin misericordia. English pity and piety were not fully distinguished until 17c. Transferred sense of "grounds or cause for pity" is from late 14c.
pity (v.): "to feel pity for," late 15c., from Old French pitier and from pity (n.). Related: Pitied; pitying.