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contraband [contraband 词源字典]: contraband: [16] Contraband means literally ‘proclamation against’ – hence ‘prohibition’. It comes via French contrebande from Italian contrabbando, a compound formed from contra ‘against’ (see CONTRARY) and bando ‘proclamation’ (whose source was late Latin bannus, bannum, a relative of English ban). The sense ‘dealing in prohibited goods’ had already developed before English acquired the word, and rapidly developed through ‘smuggling’ to ‘smuggled goods’.
=> ban, contrary[contraband etymology, contraband origin, 英语词源]
contract: contract: [14] English acquired the word contract in stages, although in all cases the ultimate source was contractus, the past participle of Latin contrahere, a compound verb formed from the prefix com- ‘together’ and trahere ‘pull, draw’ (source of English traction and tractor). This meant literally ‘pull together’, but it had a variety of metaphorical senses, including ‘bring about’ and ‘enter into an agreement’, and it was the latter which first passed into English via Old French as a noun meaning ‘mutual agreement’.

The arrival of the verb contract did not happen until the 16th century; it developed from an earlier adjective contract, which came again from Old French contract. This introduced a further sense of Latin contrahere; ‘become narrowed, get smaller’.
=> distract, retract, traction, tractor
contrary: contrary: [14] Contrary originated as a Latin adjectival formation based on the preposition contrā ‘against’, which historically was a derivative of com or cum ‘with’. Latin contrārius passed into English via Old French contraire and Anglo-Norman contrarie. Originally contrary was pronounced with the main stress on its middle syllable, but this survives only in the sense ‘obstinately self-willed’; from the 18th century onwards, the stress has usually been placed on the first syllable.
contrast: contrast: see statue
contribute: contribute: see tribe
contrition: contrition: see throw
contrive: contrive: [14] In Middle English, contrive was controve; it was not transformed into contrive (perhaps under the influence of Scottish pronunciation) until the 15th century. It came via Old French controver from Latin contropāre ‘represent metaphorically, compare’, a compound verb based on the prefix com- ‘too’ and tropus ‘figure of speech’ (source of English trope). The word’s meaning has progressed through ‘compare via a figure of speech’ and Old French ‘imagine’ to ‘devise’.
=> trope
control: control: [15] Implausible as it may seem, control’s closest relative in English is contrarotating. It has its origins in a medieval method of checking accounts which involved a duplicate register, or ‘counter-roll’, as it was known (contrārotulus in medieval Latin, contrā meaning ‘opposite’ and rotulus being the diminutive of rota ‘wheel’).

From the medieval Latin noun a verb was formed, contrārotulāre, meaning ‘check accounts by such means’, and hence ‘exert authority’. This passed into English via Anglo-Norman contreroller. The spelling of the agent noun controller as comptroller, still encountered in certain official designations, arises from an erroneous 16th-century association of the first syllable with count, from late Latin computus.
=> rota, rotate
controversy: controversy: see verse
contra: mid-14c., from Latin contra (prep. and adv.) "against," originally "in comparison with," ablative singular feminine of *com-teros, from Old Latin com "with, together" (see com-) + -tr, zero degree of the comparative suffix -ter-.
Contra (n.): 1981, "anti-Sandinista Nicaraguan," short for Spanish contrarrevolucionario "counter-revolutionary."
contra dance: 1803, from French contre-danse, altered from English country dance by folk etymology from French contra "against," suggested by the arrangement of the partners in the dance. The dances and the name were taken up in France c. 1720s and from there passed to Spain and Italy (Spanish, Italian contra danza) then back to English.
contra-: word-forming element meaning "against, in opposition," from Latin adverb and preposition contra (see contra). The Latin word was used as a prefix in Late Latin. In French, it became contre- and passed into English as counter-. The Old English equivalent was wiðer (surviving in withers and widdershins), from wið "with, against."
contraband (n.): 1520s, "smuggling;" 1590s, "smuggled goods;" from Middle French contrebande "a smuggling," from older Italian contrabando (modern contrabbando) "unlawful dealing," from Latin contra "against" (see contra) + Medieval Latin bannum, from Frankish *ban "a command" or some other Germanic source (see ban (v.)).
contraception (n.): "birth control," coined 1886 from Latin contra (see contra) + ending from conception.
contraceptive: 1891 (n.), 1918 (adj.), from stem of contraception + -ive.
contract (v.): late 14c., "make narrow, draw together;" early 15c. "make an agreement;" from Middle French contracter, from Latin contractus, past participle of contrahere "to draw together, combine, make an agreement" (see contract (n.)). Related: Contracted; contracting.
contract (n.): early 14c., from Old French contract (Modern French contrat), from Latin contractus "a contract, agreement," from past participle of contrahere "to draw together," metaphorically, "to make a bargain," from com- "together" (see com-) + trahere "to draw" (see tract (n.1)). U.S. underworld sense of "arrangement to kill someone" first recorded 1940.
contracted (adj.): c. 1600, "agreed upon," also "shrunken, shortened," past participle adjective from contract (v.).
contractile (adj.): 1706, from French contractile, from Latin contract-, past participle stem of contrahere (see contract (n.)). Related: Contractility. Contractile vacuole is from 1877.
contraction (n.): late 14c., "action of making a contract" (especially of marriage), also "action of shrinking or shortening," from Old French contraction (13c.), or directly from Latin contractionem (nominative contractio), noun of action from past participle stem of contrahere (see contract (n.)). Meaning "action of acquiring (a disease) is from c. 1600. Grammatical sense is from 1706; meaning "a contracted word or words" is from 1755. Contractions of the uterus in labor of childbirth attested from 1962.
contractor (n.): 1540s, "one who enters into a contract," from Late Latin contractor, agent noun from past participle stem of Latin contrahere (see contract (n.)); specifically of "one who enters into a contract to provide work, services, or goods" from 1724.
contractual (adj.): 1827, from Latin contractus (see contract (n.)) + -al (1).
contracture (n.): 1650s, from French contracture, from Latin contractura "a drawing together," from contractus, past participle of contrahere (see contract (n.)).
contradict (v.): 1570s, "speak against," also "assert the contrary" (1580s), from Latin contradictus, past participle of contradicere (see contradiction). Related: Contradicted; contradicting; contradictive.
contradiction (n.): late 14c., from Old French contradiction or directly from Latin contradictionem (nominative contradictio) "a reply, objection, counterargument," noun of action from past participle stem of contradicere, in classical Latin contra dicere "to speak against," from contra "against" (see contra) + dicere "to speak" (see diction).
contradictory (adj.): 1530s, "mutually opposed, at variance," from Late Latin contradictorius "containing a contradiction or objection," from contradictus, past participle of contradicere (see contradiction). Meaning "fond of contradicting" is from 1891. Used earlier as a noun (late 14c.).
contradistinction (n.): 1640s, from contra- + distinction.
contrail (n.): 1945, from condensation trail.
contraindicate (v.): 1660s, from contra- + indicate. Related: Contraindicated; contraindication (1620s).
contralateral (adj.): 1882, from contra- + lateral.
contralto (n.): "lowest female voice," 1730, from Italian contralto; see contra- "against, opposite" + alto. The part next above the alto.
contraposition (n.): 1550s, from Late Latin contrapositionem (nominative contrapositio), noun of action from past participle stem of contraponere, from contra "against" (see contra) + ponere "to put, place" (past participle positus; see position (n.)).
contrapositive (adj.): 1858 (implied in contrapositively), from Latin contraposit-, past participle stem of contraponere (see contraposition) + -ive.
contrapposto (n.): 1903, from Italian contrapposto, past participle of contrapporre, from Latin contraponere (see contraposition).
contraption (n.): 1825, western England dialect, origin obscure, perhaps from con(trive) + trap, or deception.
contrapuntal (adj.): 1845, from Italian contrapunto "counterpoint," also "backstitch," from contra "against" (see contra) + punto "point" (see point (n.)). Musical use is from Medieval Latin cantus contrapunctis. Compare counterpoint. Related: Contrapuntally.
contrarian (n.): 1963, from contrary + -ian.
To be in opposition is not to be a nihilist. And there is no decent or charted way of making a living at it. It is something you are, and not something you do. [Christopher Hitchens, "Letters to a Young Contrarian," 2001]
contrariety (n.): late 14c., from Old French contrarieté, from Late Latin contrarietatem (nominative contrarietas) "opposition," noun of quality from contrarius (see contrary).
contrariness (n.): late 14c., "state of being contrary," from contrary + -ness. Meaning "fondness of opposition" is from 1640s.
contrary (adj.): mid-14c., from Anglo-French contrarie, from Latin contrarius "opposite, opposed," from contra "against" (see contra).
If we take the statement All men are mortal, its contrary is Not all men are mortal, its converse is All mortal beings are men, & its opposite is No men are mortal. The contrary, however, does not exclude the opposite, but includes it as its most extreme form. Thus This is white has only one opposite, This is black, but many contraries, as This is not white, This is coloured, This is dirty, This is black; & whether the last form is called the contrary, or more emphatically the opposite, is usually indifferent. But to apply the opposite to a mere contrary (e.g. to I did not hit him in relation to I hit him, which has no opposite), or to the converse (e.g. to He hit me in relation to I hit him, to which it is neither contrary nor opposite), is a looseness that may easily result in misunderstanding; the temptation to go wrong is intelligible when it is remembered that with certain types of sentence (A exceeds B) the converse & the opposite are identical (B exceeds A). [Fowler]
As a noun from late 13c. Related: Contrarily; contrariwise.
Contras (n.): see Contra.
contrast (v.): 1690s, from French contraster (Old French contrester), modified by or from Italian contrastare "stand out against, strive, contend," from Vulgar Latin *contrastare "to withstand," from Latin contra "against" (see contra) + stare "to stand," from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet).

Middle English had contrest "to fight against, to withstand," which became extinct. Modern word re-introduced as an art term. Related: Contrasted; contrasting; contrastive.
contrast (n.): 1711, from contrast (v.).
contrasting (adj.): 1715, present participle adjective from contrast (v.). From 1680s as a verbal noun.
contravene (v.): 1560s, from Middle French contravenir "to transgress, decline, depart," from Late Latin contravenire "to come against," in Medieval Latin "to transgress," from Latin contra "against" (see contra) + venire "to come" (see venue). Related: Contravened; contravening.
contravening (n.): 1640s, verbal noun from contravene; from 1802 as a present participle adjective.
contravention (n.): 1570s, from Middle French contravention, from Vulgar Latin *contraventionem, noun of action from past participle stem of contravenire (see contravene).
contretemps (n.): 1680s, "a blunder in fencing," from French contre-temps "motion out of time, unfortunate accident, bad times;" from Latin contra + tempus (see temporal). As a ballet term, from 1706; as "an unfortunate accident," 1802; as "a dispute," from 1961.
contribute (v.): 1520s, from Latin contributus, past participle of contribuere "to bring together, add, unite, collect, contribute" (see contribution). Figurative sense is from 1630s. Related: Contributed; contributing.