英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

affair: affair: [13] Like ado, and of course to-do, affair originally meant literally ‘to do’. It was coined in Old French from the phrase à faire ‘to do’, and entered English via Anglo-Norman afere. The spelling affair was established by Caxton, who based it on the French model. The specific sense of a ‘love affair’ dates from the early 18th century.
=> fact
fail: fail: [13] Fail, fallacy [15], fallible, false, and fault all come ultimately from the same source – the Latin verb fallere. This originally meant ‘deceive’, but it developed semantically to ‘deceive someone’s hopes, disappoint someone’, and in its Vulgar Latin descendant *fallīre this meaning had progressed to ‘be defective, fail’. English acquired the word via Old French faillir. Its Anglo-Norman form, failer, came to be used as a noun, and is the source of English failure [17].
=> faliacy, fallible, false, fault
faint: faint: [13] Faint comes from Old French faint, which was originally the past participle of the verb faindre, feindre ‘pretend, shirk’ (whence English feign). This meant ‘pretended, simulated’, ‘lazy, shirking’, and ‘cowardly’, and all these senses were originally taken over by English. None now survives except the last, in the phrase faint heart, but in their place the underlying notion of ‘feebleness’ has produced ‘not bright, dim’ and ‘weak and dizzy’. The verb, based on the second of these, developed in the late 14th century. The variant spelling feint, used of printed lines, was introduced in the mid 19th century.
=> feign
fair: fair: English has two distinct words fair, one Germanic and the other Romance. The older, meaning ‘beautiful’ [OE], comes from a prehistoric Germanic *fagraz, which survives also in Swedish fager ‘beautiful’. It derived from a base *fag-, which seems originally to have meant ‘fitting, suitable’ (a variant of it was the ultimate source of fake and possibly also of the now archaic noun fig ‘clothes, array’, as in ‘in full fig’).

Of its main present-day meanings, ‘just, equitable’ developed in the 14th century and ‘not dark’ in the mid 16th century. Fair ‘festive event’ [13] comes from Old French feire. This was a descendant of late Latin fēria, a singular use of a noun which in classical times had been used in the plural, fēriae, for ‘holiday’. A close relative of fēriae was the adjective festus ‘joyous’, source of English feast, festival, festoon, and fête.
=> fake, feast, festival, festoon, fête, fig
fairy: fairy: [14] Fairy is an Old French coinage. It comes from Old French faerie, which meant ‘enchantment, magic’ and was derived from fae ‘fairy’ (source of English fay [14]). This in turn came from the Latin plural fāta, used in personifying the Fates, three goddesses who in ancient mythology governed human destiny. The original notion of the French noun survives in the mock-medieval term faerie (introduced by Edmund Spenser in his Faerie Queene 1590), but in fairy itself it has been gradually replaced by the meaning of the word from which it was originally derived – fay.
=> fable, fame, fate
faith: faith: [12] Faith comes ultimately from the prehistoric Indo-European *bhidh-, *bhoidh- (source also of English federal). It produced Latin fidēs ‘faith’, which lies behind a wide range of English words, including confide, defy, diffident (which originally meant ‘distrustful’), fealty [14], fidelity [15], fiduciary [17], and perfidy [16].

Its descendants in the Romance languages include Italian fede, Portuguese fé (as in auto-da-fé, literally ‘act of faith’, acquired by English in the 18th century), and Old French feid. This was pronounced much as modern English faith is pronounced, and Middle English took it over as feth or feith. (A later Old French form fei, foreshadowing modern French foi, produced the now defunct English fay [13]).
=> confide, defy, diffident, federal, fidelity, fiduciary, perfidy
savoir-faire: savoir-faire: see sapient
affair (n.): c. 1300, "what one has to do," from Anglo-French afere, Old French afaire "business, event; rank, estate" (12c., Modern French affaire), from the infinitive phrase à faire "to do," from Latin ad "to" (see ad-) + facere "to do, make" (see factitious).

A Northern word originally, brought into general use and given a French spelling by Caxton (15c.). General sense of "vague proceedings" (in romance, war, etc.) first attested 1702. Meaning "an affair of the heart; a passionate episode" is from French affaire de coeur (itself attested in English from 1809); to have an affair with someone in this sense is by 1726, earlier have an affair of love:
'Tis manifeſtly contrary to the Law of Nature, that one Woman ſhould cohabit or have an Affair of Love with more than one Man at the ſame time. ["Pufendorf's Law of Nature and Nations," transl. J. Spavan, London, 1716]

Thus, in our dialect, a vicious man is a man of pleasure, a sharper is one that plays the whole game, a lady is said to have an affair, a gentleman to be a gallant, a rogue in business to be one that knows the world. By this means, we have no such things as sots, debauchees, whores, rogues, or the like, in the beau monde, who may enjoy their vices without incurring disagreeable appellations. [George Berkeley, "Alciphron or the Minute Philosopher," 1732]
affairs (n.): "ordinary business," late 15c., plural of affair (n.).
au fait (adj.): 1743, French, "to the point, to the matter under discussion," literally "to the fact," from fait "fact" (see feat). Used in French with sense of "acquainted with the facts."
faience (n.): fine kind of pottery or earthenware, 1714, from French faïence (16c.), probably from Fayence, French form of Faenza, city in Italy that was a noted ceramics center 16c. The city name is Latin faventia, literally "silence, meditation," perhaps a reference to a tranquil location.
fail (v.): c. 1200, "be unsuccessful in accomplishing a purpose;" also "cease to exist or to function, come to an end;" early 13c. as "fail in expectation or performance," from Old French falir "be lacking, miss, not succeed; run out, come to an end; err, make a mistake; be dying; let down, disappoint" (11c., Modern French faillir), from Vulgar Latin *fallire, from Latin fallere "to trip, cause to fall;" figuratively "to deceive, trick, dupe, cheat, elude; fail, be lacking or defective." Related: Failed; failing.

Replaced Old English abreoðan. From c. 1200 as "be unsuccessful in accomplishing a purpose;" also "cease to exist or to function, come to an end;" early 13c. as "fail in expectation or performance." From mid-13c. of food, goods, etc., "to run short in supply, be used up;" from c. 1300 of crops, seeds, land. From c. 1300 of strength, spirits, courage, etc., "suffer loss of vigor; grow feeble;" from mid-14c. of persons. From late 14c. of material objects, "break down, go to pieces."
fail (n.): late 13c., "failure, deficiency" (as in without fail), from Old French faile "deficiency," from falir (see fail (v.)). The Anglo-French form of the verb, failer, also came to be used as a noun, hence failure.
fail-safe (adj.): also failsafe, fail safe "safe against failure," 1945, originally in reference to aircraft construction, from fail (v.) + safe (adj.). The novel about a nuclear attack caused by mechanical error is from 1962.
failing (n.): late 14c., "failure;" 1580s, "defect, fault," verbal noun from fail (v.).
failure (n.): 1640s, failer, "a failing, deficiency," also "act of failing," from Anglo-French failer, Old French falir "be lacking; not succeed" (see fail (v.)). The verb in Anglo-French used as a noun; ending altered 17c. in English to conform with words in -ure. Meaning "thing or person considered as a failure" is from 1837.
fain (adj.): Old English fægen, fagen "glad, cheerful, happy, joyful, rejoicing," from a common Germanic root (cognates: Old Saxon fagan, Old Norse feginn "glad," Old High German faginon, Gothic faginon "to rejoice"), perhaps from PIE *pek- (1) "to make pretty." Often "glad" in a relative sense, "content to accept when something better is unobtainable." As an adverb, from c. 1200. Related: Fainly.
faineant (adj.): 1855; earlier as a noun (1610s); from French fainéant (16c.) "do-nothing," from fait, third person singular of faire "to do" (from Latin facere "to make, do;" see factitious) + néant "nothing" (compare dolce far niente). According to OED this is a French folk-etymology alteration of Old French faignant (14c.), present participle of faindre "to feign" (see feign). Applied in French to the late Merovingian kings, puppets in the hands of the palace mayors. Related: Faineance "the habit of doing nothing."
faint (adj.): c. 1300, "enfeebled; wearied, exhausted," from Old French faint, feint "false, deceitful; sham, artificial; weak, faint, lazy, indolent, cowardly," past participle of feindre "hesitate, falter, be indolent, show weakness, avoid one's duty by pretending" (see feign). Also from c. 1300 as "deceitful; unreliable; false." Meaning "wanting in spirit or courage, cowardly" (a sense now mostly encountered in faint-hearted) is from early 14c. From early 15c. of actions, functions, colors, etc., "weak, feeble, poor." Meaning "producing a feeble impression upon the senses" is from 1650s.
faint (v.): c. 1300, "grow weak, become enfeebled," also "lack courage or spirit, be faint-hearted," and "to pretend, feign;" from faint (adj.). Sense of "swoon, lose consciousness" is from c. 1400. Also used in Middle English of the fading of colors, flowers, etc. Related: Fainted; fainting. For Chaucer and Shakespeare, also a transitive verb ("It faints me").
faint (n.): c. 1300, "faintness, faint-heartedness," from faint (adj.). From 1808 as "a swoon."
faint-hearted (adj.): "cowardly, timorous," c. 1400, from faint (adj.) + hearted. Related: Faint-heartedly; faint-heartedness; faint-heart.
faintish (adj.): 1660s, from faint (adj.) + -ish.
faintly (adv.): c. 1300, "dispiritedly, timidly, half-heartedly;" early 14c. "feebly, wearily, without vigor;" from faint (adj.) + -ly (2). Meaning "indistinctly" is from 1580s. Also in Middle English, "deceitfully, hypocritically, falsely" (mid-14c.).
faintness (n.): early 14c., "feebleness, weariness," from faint (adj.) + -ness. Meaning "exhaustion" is mid-15c. Of color, light, etc., from 1640s.
fair (adj.): Old English fæger "pleasing to the sight (of persons and body features, also of objects, places, etc.); beautiful, handsome, attractive," of weather, "bright, clear, pleasant; not rainy," also in late Old English "morally good," from Proto-Germanic *fagraz (cognates: Old Saxon fagar, Old Norse fagr, Swedish fager, Old High German fagar "beautiful," Gothic fagrs "fit"), perhaps from PIE *pek- (1) "to make pretty" (cognates: Lithuanian puošiu "I decorate").

The meaning in reference to weather preserves the oldest sense "suitable, agreeable" (opposed to foul (adj.)). Of the main modern senses of the word, that of "light of complexion or color of hair and eyes, not dusky or sallow" (of persons) is from c. 1200, faire, contrasted to browne and reflecting tastes in beauty. From early 13c. as "according with propriety; according with justice," hence "equitable, impartial, just, free from bias" (mid-14c.).

Of wind, "not excessive; favorable for a ship's passage," from late 14c. Of handwriting from 1690s. From c. 1300 as "promising good fortune, auspicious." Also from c. 1300 as "above average, considerable, sizable." From 1860 as "comparatively good."

The sporting senses (fair ball, fair catch, etc.) began to appear in 1856. Fair play is from 1590s but not originally in sports. Fair-haired in the figurative sense of "darling, favorite" is from 1909. First record of fair-weather friends is from 1736 (in a letter from Pope published that year, written in 1730). The fair sex "women" is from 1660s, from the "beautiful" sense (fair as a noun meaning "a woman" is from early 15c.). Fair game "legitimate target" is from 1776, from hunting.
Others, who have not gone to such a height of audacious wickedness, have yet considered common prostitutes as fair game, which they might pursue without restraint. ["Advice from a Father to a Son, Just Entered into the Army and about to Go Abroad into Action," London, 1776]
fair (n.): "a stated market in a town or city; a regular meeting to buy, sell, or trade," early 14c., from Anglo-French feyre (late 13c.), from Old French feire, faire "fair, market; feast day," from Vulgar Latin *feria "holiday, market fair," from Latin feriae "religious festivals, holidays," related to festus "solemn, festive, joyous" (see feast (n.)).
fair (adv.): Old English fægere "beautifully," from fæger "beautiful" (see fair (adj.)). From c. 1300 as "honorably;" mid-14c. as "correctly; direct;" from 1510s as "clearly." Fair and square is from c. 1600. Fair-to-middling is from 1829, of livestock markets.
fair-minded (adj.): 1754, from fair (adj.) + minded.
fair-spoken (adj.): mid-15c.; see fair (adj.) + -spoken.
fairground (n.): also fair-ground, 1741, from fair (n.) + ground (n.).
fairing (n.): "piece added for streamlining purposes," 1865, from fair (v.) a ship-building word meaning "to make 'fair' or level, adjust, make regular, correct curvatures," from fair (adj.).
fairly (adv.): c. 1400, "handsomely," from fair (adj.) + -ly (2). Meaning "impartially, justly" is from 1670s. Sense of "somewhat" is from 1805, a curious contrast to the earlier, but still active, sense of "totally" (1590s). Old English had fægerlice "splendidly."
fairness (n.): Old English fægernes "beauty;" see fair (adj.) + -ness. Meaning "even-handedness, impartiality" is from mid-15c. Meaning "lightness of complexion" is from 1590s.
fairway (n.): 1580s, "navigational channel of a river," from fair (adj.) + way (n.). Golfing sense is by 1898.
fairy (n.): c. 1300, fairie, "the country or home of supernatural or legendary creatures; fairyland," also "something incredible or fictitious," from Old French faerie "land of fairies, meeting of fairies; enchantment, magic, witchcraft, sorcery" (12c.), from fae "fay," from Latin fata "the Fates," plural of fatum "that which is ordained; destiny, fate," from PIE *bha- "to speak" (see fame (n.)). Also compare fate (n.), also fay.
In ordinary use an elf differs from a fairy only in generally seeming young, and being more often mischievous. [Century Dictionary]
But that was before Tolkien. As a type of supernatural being from late 14c. [contra Tolkien; for example "This maketh that ther been no fairyes" in "Wife of Bath's Tale"], perhaps via intermediate forms such as fairie knight "supernatural or legendary knight" (c. 1300), as in Spenser, where faeries are heroic and human-sized. As a name for the diminutive winged beings in children's stories from early 17c.
Yet I suspect that this flower-and-butterfly minuteness was also a product of "rationalization," which transformed the glamour of Elfland into mere finesse, and invisibility into a fragility that could hide in a cowslip or shrink behind a blade of grass. It seems to become fashionable soon after the great voyages had begun to make the world seem too narrow to hold both men and elves; when the magic land of Hy Breasail in the West had become the mere Brazils, the land of red-dye-wood. [J.R.R. Tolkien, "On Fairy-Stories," 1947]
Hence, figurative adjective use in reference to lightness, fineness, delicacy. Slang meaning "effeminate male homosexual" is recorded by 1895. Fairy ring, of certain fungi in grass fields (as we would explain it now), is from 1590s. Fairy godmother attested from 1820. Fossil Cretaceous sea urchins found on the English downlands were called fairy loaves, and a book from 1787 reports that "country people" in England called the stones of the old Roman roads fairy pavements.
fairy-tale (n.): "oral narrative centered on magical tests, quests, and transformations," 1749, translating French Conte de feés, the name given to her collection by Madame d'Aulnois (1698, translated into English 1699). As an adjective (also fairytale), attested by 1963.
fairyland (n.): also fairy-land, 1580s, from fairy + land (n.). Earlier simply Faerie (c. 1300).
fait accompli (n.): "a scheme already carried into execution," 19c., French, literally "an accomplished fact." See feat and accomplish.
faith (n.): mid-13c., faith, feith, fei, fai "faithfulness to a trust or promise; loyalty to a person; honesty, truthfulness," from Anglo-French and Old French feid, foi "faith, belief, trust, confidence; pledge" (11c.), from Latin fides "trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence, belief," from root of fidere "to trust," from PIE root *bheidh- "to trust" (source also of Greek pistis "faith, confidence, honesty;" see bid). For sense evolution, see belief. Accomodated to other English abstract nouns in -th (truth, health, etc.).

From early 14c. as "assent of the mind to the truth of a statement for which there is incomplete evidence," especially "belief in religious matters" (matched with hope and charity). Since mid-14c. in reference to the Christian church or religion; from late 14c. in reference to any religious persuasion.
And faith is neither the submission of the reason, nor is it the acceptance, simply and absolutely upon testimony, of what reason cannot reach. Faith is: the being able to cleave to a power of goodness appealing to our higher and real self, not to our lower and apparent self. [Matthew Arnold, "Literature & Dogma," 1873]
From late 14c. as "confidence in a person or thing with reference to truthfulness or reliability," also "fidelity of one spouse to another." Also in Middle English "a sworn oath," hence its frequent use in Middle English oaths and asseverations (par ma fay, mid-13c.; bi my fay, c. 1300).
faith-healer (n.): Also faith healer, attested by 1874; from faith + healer. Faith-curer is from 1883.
The power which a man's imagination has over his body to heal it or make it sick is a force which none of us is born without. The first man had it, the last one will possess it. If left to himself, a man is most likely to use only the mischievous half of the force--the half which invents imaginary ailments for him and cultivates them; and if he is one of those very wise people, he is quite likely to scoff at the beneficent half of the force and deny its existence. [Mark Twain, "Christian Science," 1907]
faithful (adj.): early 14c., "sincerely religious, devout, pious," especially in reference to Christian practice; mid-14c., "loyal (to a lord, friend, spouse, etc.); true; honest, trustworthy," from faith + -ful. From late 14c. in reference to a tale, a report, etc., "accurate, reliable, true to the facts." The noun sense of "true believer, one who is full of faith" is from late 14c. (Church Latin used fideles in same sense). Related: Faithfully; faithfulness. Old Faithful geyser named 1870 by explorer Gen. Henry Dana Washburn (1832-1871), surveyor-general of the Montana Territory, in reference to the regularity of its outbursts.
faithless (adj.): c. 1300, "unbelieving," from faith + -less. Meaning "insincere, deceptive" is mid-14c. Related: Faithlessly; faithlessness.
faitor (n.): "impostor, cheat," mid-14c., from Anglo-French faiteor, faiture "evildoer; slothful person," apparently a specialized use of Old French faiture "sorcery, spell," literally "deed, action," from Latin facere "do, make, perform" (see factitious), an etymologically neutral term taken in a bad sense.
interfaith (adj.): 1921, from inter- + faith.
laissez-faire: laissez faire, 1822, French, literally "let (people) do (as they think best)," from laissez, imperative of laisser "to let, to leave" (from Latin laxare, from laxus "loose;" see lax) + faire "to do" (from Latin facere; see factitious). From the phrase laissez faire et laissez passer, motto of certain 18c. French economists, chosen to express the ideal of government non-interference in business and industry.
Llanfair: common in Welsh place names, literally "St. Mary's Church," from Welsh llan "church" (see land (n.)) + Mair "Mary," with lentition of m- to f-.
Mayfair: fashionable district of London, developed 18c., built on Brook fields, where an annual May fair had been held 17c.
parfait (n.): kind of frozen dessert, 1894, French, literally "perfect" (see perfect (adj.)).
savoir-faire (n.): "instinctive knowledge of the right course of action in any circumstance," 1815, from French, literally "to know (how) to do," from savoir "to know" (from Latin sapere; see sapient) + faire (from Latin facere "to make, do;" see factitious). French also has savoir-vivre "ability in good society; knowledge of customs in the world."