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bilge [bilge 词源字典]: bilge: see bulge
[bilge etymology, bilge origin, 英语词源]
bill: bill: There are three distinct words bill in English (not counting the proper name), and of them all, the most recent is the commonest. Bill ‘note of charges’ [14] comes from Anglo-Latin billa, which is probably a variant of Latin bulla ‘_document, seal’ (as in ‘papal bull’). English billet [15], as in ‘billeting soldiers on a house’, was originally a diminutive form of billa (French billet ‘letter’ comes from the same source). Bill ‘hook-bladed weapon’ [OE], now found mainly in billhook, comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *bilja, which may be based ultimately on Indo-European *bhid-, source of English bite. Bill ‘beak’ [OE] may be related to bill ‘weapon’, but this is not clear.

The verbal sense ‘caress’, as in ‘bill and coo’, is 16th-century; it arose from the courting behaviour of doves stroking each other’s beaks.
=> billet
billiards: billiards: [16] Billiard comes from French billard, which is the name not only of the game, but also of the cue it is played with. And the cue is the clue to the word’s history, for it comes from French bille ‘tree trunk’, hence ‘long cylindrical bit of wood’. The import of the -ard suffix is not altogether clear, but another suffix used with bille was the diminutive -ette, from which English got billet ‘piece of wood’ [15] (not to be confused with billet ‘assignment to lodgings’; see BILL). Bille itself came from medieval Latin billa or billus, which may have been of Celtic origin.
=> billet
biltong: biltong: [19] Biltong, strips of sun-dried meat – anything from beef to ostrich – used as iron rations in southern Africa, has the unpromising literal meaning ‘buttock-tongue’ (Afrikaans bil is ‘buttock’, tong is ‘tongue’). The reason for the name is supposedly that the meat for biltong was customarily cut from the hind quarters of the animal, and that the coiner found in it, perhaps rather optimistically, a resemblance to the taste of smoked ox tongue.
debility: debility: [15] Despite the passing similarity, debility has no connection with ability. It comes via Old French debilite from Latin dēbilitās, a derivative of the adjective dēbilis ‘weak’. This was a compound formed from the prefix de- ‘not’ and a second element meaning ‘strong’, represented also in Sanskrit bálam ‘strength’, Greek beltíon ‘better’, and Old Slavic bolij ‘larger’ (ultimate source of bolshevik).
jubilee: jubilee: [14] Despite their similarity, jubilee has no etymological connection with jubilation [14] and jubilant [17]; but they have exerted a considerable influence on it over the centuries. It was originally a Hebrew word: Hebrew yōbhēl meant ‘leading animal, ram’, and by extension ‘ram’s horn’, and since a ram’s horn was blown to announce the start of a special year (set aside once every fifty years according to ancient Hebrew law) in which slaves were freed, land left untilled, etc, the term yōbēl came to be used for the year itself.

Greek took it over as ióbēlos and formed an adjective from it, iōbēlaios. This was passed on to Latin, and it was here that jubilation took a hand. Latin jūbilāre (source of English jubilation) originally meant simply ‘call out’, but early Christian writers used it for ‘shout for joy’. Under its influence Greek iōbēlaios became Latin jūbilaeus, which was used in the expression annus jūbilaeus to denote this special Jewish year.

It soon came to be used as a noun in its own right, and in this role passed via Old French jubile into English. By this time the ideas of ‘fifty years’ and ‘joy, celebration’ had mingled to such an extent that the word was being used for a ‘fiftieth anniversary’ or its celebration, a sense which remained current until the early 20th century (in present-day English it means simply ‘anniversary’, usually of a monarch’s accession, and the period involved has to be defined by golden, silver, etc).
nubile: nubile: [17] In modern English, nubile is generally used as a facetious synonym for ‘sexy, attractive’, but etymologically it means ‘suitable for marriage’. It comes from Latin nūbilis, a derivative of nūbere ‘take a husband’. This has also given English nuptial [15] and connubial [17], and is related to nymph.
=> connubial, nuptial, nymph
umbilical: umbilical: [16] Umbilical was borrowed from medieval Latin umbilīcālis, a derivative of Latin umbilīcus ‘navel’. This went back ultimately to the Indo-European base *onobh-, a variant of which, *nobh-, produced English navel [OE].
=> navel
-ability: word-forming element expressing ability, fitness, or capacity, from Latin -abilitas, forming nouns from adjectives ending in -abilis (see -able). Not etymologically related to ability, though popularly connected with it.
ability (n.): late 14c., from Old French ableté "expert at handling (something)," from Latin habilitatem (nominative habilitas) "aptitude," noun of quality from habilis "easy to manage, handy" (see able). One case where a Latin silent -h- failed to make a return in English (despite efforts of 16c.-17c. scholars); see H.
acceptability (n.): 1660s, from Late Latin acceptabilitas, from Latin acceptabilis "worthy of acceptance" (see acceptable).
accessibility (n.): c. 1800, from accessible + -ity.
accountability (n.): 1770, from accountable + -ity. Earlier was accountableness (1660s).
adaptability (n.): 1660s, from adapt + -ability.
admissibility (n.): 1763, from admissible + -ity.
advisability (n.): 1778 (in a letter from George Washington at Valley Forge), from advisable + -ity.
affability (n.): late 15c., from Old French affabilité (14c.), noun of quality from affable (see affable).
amenability (n.): 1761; see amenable + -ity.
amiability (n.): 1807; see amiable + -ity. Amiableness is recorded from 1530s.
amicability (n.): 1650s, see amicable + -ity.
annus mirabilis (n.): 1667, Latin, literally "wonderful year, year of wonders," title of a publication by Dryden, with reference to 1666, which was a year of calamities in London (plague, fire, war).
applicability (n.): 1650s, from applicable + -ity.
atrabiliary (adj.): 1725, from Medieval Latin atrabilarius; see atrabilious.
atrabilious (adj.): 1650s, from Latin atra bilis, translating Greek melankholia "black bile" (see melancholy; also compare bile). Atra is fem. of ater "black, dark, gloomy," perhaps related to root of atrocity. Related: Atrabiliousness.
automobile (adj.): 1883, in reference to electric traction cars, from French automobile (adj.), 1861, a hybrid from Greek autos "self" (see auto-) + French mobile "moving," from Latin mobilis "movable" (see mobile (adj.)).
automobile (n.): "self-propelled motor vehicle," 1895, from French automobile, short for véhicule automobile (see automobile (adj.)). The modern Greek calls it autokineto "moved of itself." The French word had competition in the early years from locomobile; in English other early forms were motorcar and autocar. An electrical car was an electromobile (1899).
availability (n.): 1803, from available + -ity.
believability (n.): 1865, from believable + -ity.
bilabial (adj.): 1857, from bi- + labial. Alternative bilabiate is attested from 1794.
bilateral (adj.): "having two sides," 1775, from bi- + lateral. Related: Bilaterally.
bilateralism (n.): 1852, from bilateral + -ism.
bilbo (n.): kind of sword noted for temper and elasticity, 1590s, from Bilbao, town in northern Spain where swords were made, in English Bilboa. The town name is Roman Bellum Vadum "beautiful ford" (over the Nervion River).
Bildungsroman (n.): 1910, from German Bildungsroman, from Bildung "education, formation, growth" (from Bild "picture, image, figure;" Old High German bilade) + roman "novel" (see romance). A novel set in the formative years, or the time of spiritual education, of the main character.
bile (n.): 1660s, from French bile (17c.) "bile," also, informally, "anger," from Latin bilis "fluid secreted by the liver," also one of the four humors (also known as choler), thus "anger, peevishness" (especially as black bile, 1797).
bilge (n.): 1510s, "lowest internal part of a ship," also used of the foulness which collects there; variant of bulge "ship's hull," also "leather bag," from Old North French boulge "leather sack," from Late Latin bulga "leather sack," apparently from Gaulish bulga (see budget (n.)).
biliary (adj.): "pertaining to bile," 1731, from French biliaire, from bile (see bile). Meaning "bilious in mood or temperament" is recorded from 1837.
bilinear (adj.): also bi-linear, 1851, from bi- + linear. Related: Bilinearly; bilinearity.
bilingual (adj.): 1818, from bi- + lingual. Latin bilinguis meant literally "two-tongued," and, figuratively, "speaking a jumble of languages," also "double-tongued, hypocritical, false."
bilingualism (n.): 1873, from bilingual + -ism.
bilious (adj.): 1540s, "pertaining to bile, biliary," from French bilieux, from Latin biliosus "pertaining to bile," from bilis (see bile). Meaning "wrathful, peevish, ill-tempered" (as people afflicted with an excess of bile were believed to be) is attested from 1560s. This is the main modern sense in English and French; the more literal meaning being taken up by biliary. Related: Biliousness.
bilirubin (n.): "reddish pigment found in bile," 1871, from German bilirubin (1864), from bili- (see bile) + Latin ruber "red" (see red (1)) + -ine (2).
bilk (v.): 1650s, from or along with the noun (1630s), first used as a cribbage term; as a verb, "to spoil (someone's) score." Origin obscure, it was believed in 17c. to be "a word signifying nothing;" perhaps it s a thinned form of balk "to hinder." Meaning "to defraud" is first recorded 1670s. Related: Bilked; bilking.
bill (n.1): "written statement," mid-14c., from Anglo-French bille, Anglo-Latin billa "list," from Medieval Latin bulla "decree, seal, sealed document," in classical Latin "bubble, boss, stud, amulet for the neck" (hence "seal;" see bull (n.2)). Sense of "account, invoice" first recorded c. 1400; that of "order to pay" (technically bill of exchange) is from 1570s; that of "paper money" is from 1660s. Meaning "draft of an act of Parliament" is from 1510s.
bill (n.2): "bird's beak," Old English bill "bill, bird's beak," related to bill, a poetic word for a kind of sword (especially one with a hooked blade), from a common Germanic word for cutting or chopping weapons (compare Old High German bihal, Old Norse bilda "hatchet," Old Saxon bil "sword"), from PIE root *bheie- "to cut, to strike" (cognates: Armenian bir "cudgel," Greek phitos "block of wood," Old Church Slavonic biti "to strike," Old Irish biail "ax"). Used also in Middle English of beak-like projections of land (such as Portland Bill).
bill (v.): "to send someone a bill of charge," 1864, from bill (n.1). Related: Billed; billing.
bill (n.3): ancient weapon, Old English bill "sword (especially one with a hooked blade), chopping tool," common Germanic (compare Old Saxon bil "sword," Middle Dutch bile, Dutch bijl, Old High German bihal, German Beil, Old Norse bilda "hatchet." See bill (n.2).
billable (adj.): 1570s, from bill (v.) + -able.
billabong: Australian, "backwater, stagnant pool," 1865, from Billibang, Aboriginal name of Bell River, from billa "water" + bang, of uncertain meaning.
billboard (n.): 1845, American English, from bill (n.1) + board (n.1). Any sort of board where bills were meant to be posted. Billboard magazine founded 1894, originally a trade paper for the bill-posting industry. Its music sales charts date from 1930s.
billet (v.): 1590s, "to assign quarters to," earlier, as a noun, "official record or register" (Middle English), from Anglo-French billette "list, schedule," diminutive of bille (see bill (n.1)) with -let. Related: Billeted; billeting.