diligentyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[diligent 词源字典]
diligent: [14] The underlying meaning of diligent is ‘loving’. It comes via Old French diligent from the present participial stem of Latin dīligere ‘esteem highly, love’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix dis- ‘apart’ and legere ‘choose’ (source of English elect, neglect, and select), and so originally meant literally ‘single out’. It gradually passed semantically via ‘love’ to ‘attentiveness’, ‘carefulness’, and finally ‘steady effort’.
=> elect, neglect, select[diligent etymology, diligent origin, 英语词源]
diligent (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
mid-14c., from Old French diligent (14c.), from Latin diligentem "attentive, assiduous" (see diligence). Related: Diligently.