quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- Siamese twins



[Siamese twins 词源字典] - Siamese twins: [19] The original ‘Siamese twins’ were two males, Chang and Eng (1811– 74), born in Siam (now Thailand), who were joined together at the hip. No attempt was made to separate them, and they lived to a respectable age; each married and fathered children. In an age unembarrassed to be interested in ‘freaks’, they gained considerable public attention, and by the 1850s Siamese twins seems to have established itself as a generic term. The late 20th century’s aversion from associating physical defects with racial or national groups has ousted it in favour of ‘conjoined twins’.
[Siamese twins etymology, Siamese twins origin, 英语词源] - conjoin (v.)




- late 14c., from Old French conjoindre "meet, come together" (12c.), from Latin coniungere "to join together," from com- "together" (see com-) + iungere "join" (see jugular). Related: Conjoined, conjoining.
- oxymoron (n.)




- 1650s, from Greek oxymoron, noun use of neuter of oxymoros (adj.) "pointedly foolish," from oxys "sharp" (see acrid) + moros "stupid" (see moron). Rhetorical figure by which contradictory terms are conjoined so as to give point to the statement or expression; the word itself is an illustration of the thing. Now often used loosely to mean "contradiction in terms." Related: Oxymoronic.
- acardiac




- "Especially of one of a pair of monochorionic or conjoined twins: lacking a heart", Mid 19th cent.; earliest use found in Marshall Hall (1790–1857), physician and neurophysiologist. From Hellenistic Greek ἀκάρδιος without a heart + -ac, after acardia and cardiac.
- acardia




- "Congenital absence of the heart, usually accompanied by other malformations and typically occurring in one of a pair of monochorionic or conjoined twins", Mid 19th cent.; earliest use found in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal. From scientific Latin acardia from ancient Greek ἀ + καρδία heart. Compare French acardie.
- craniopagus




- "A pair of conjoined twins attached at the head", Late 19th century: from cranio- + Greek 'that which is fixed'.
- pygopagus




- "A pair of conjoined twins united in the region of the buttocks (usually at the sacrum and coccyx); either of a pair of such twins", Mid 19th cent. From pygo- + -pagus, after French pygopage; compare earlier pygopage.
- autosite




- "The larger and more completely developed member of a pair of unequal conjoined twins, on which the less developed member (parasite) is dependent. In early use also: †either of a pair of equally developed conjoined twins ( obsolete )", Mid 19th cent. From French autosite from ancient Greek αὐτόσιτος bringing one's own provisions from αὐτο- + σῖτος food.