quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- wand
- wand: [12] A wand is etymologically a ‘bendable’ stick. The word was borrowed from Old Norse vöndr ‘thin straight stick’. This in turn went back to a prehistoric Germanic *wanduz, which was derived from *wand-, *wend- ‘turn’ (source also of English wander, went, etc). A stick that can be ‘turned’ is one that can be ‘bent’, hence a ‘flexible stick’. The earliest record of the word’s use for a ‘stick with magic powers’ comes from the 15th century.
=> wander, went - weak
- weak: [13] Etymologically, something that is weak is ‘bendable’. The word was borrowed from Old Norse veikr. This was descended from prehistoric Germanic *waikwaz, which also produced German weich and Dutch week ‘soft’. And this in turn was formed from *waikw-, *wikw- ‘give way, yield’, a derivative of the base *wik- ‘bend’, which also produced the witch of English witch hazel [16] (etymologically the hazel with ‘bendy’ branches) and possibly English week.
- pliable (adj.)
- late 14c., from Old French ploiable "flexible, bendable," from plier "to bend" (see ply (n.)). Related: Pliably, pliability.