describeyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[describe 词源字典]
describe: [15] To describe something is literally to ‘write it down’. The word comes from Latin dēscrībere, a compound verb formed from the prefix dē- ‘down’ and scrībere ‘write’ (source of English scribe, script, etc). English originally borrowed it via Old French descrivre in the 13th century as descrive, in which the metaphorical sense ‘give an account of’ had already developed, and this was grafted on to the Latin verb when it was reborrowed directly in the 15th century. The derivative nondescript was coined (originally as a term in biological classification) in the 17th century.
=> ascribe, scribe, script[describe etymology, describe origin, 英语词源]
describe (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
early 13c., descriven, from Old French descrivre, descrire (13c.), from Latin describere "to write down, copy; sketch, represent" (see description). Reconstructed with Latin spelling 16c. Related: Describable; described, describes, describing.