英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

complete [complete 词源字典]: complete: [14] Complete first reached English as an adjective, either via Old French complet or direct from Latin complētus. This was the past participle of complēre ‘fill up, finish’, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix com- and plēre ‘fill’, a word related to Latin plēnus ‘full’ (whence plenary, plenitude, plenty, etc) and indeed to English full.

The verb complēre itself came into Old French as the now obsolete complir (complete as a verb is a later formation from the adjective), and was prefixed with a- to produce accomplir. From its stem accompliss- English got accomplish [14].
=> accomplish, compliment, comply, expletive, plenary, plenty[complete etymology, complete origin, 英语词源]
compliment: compliment: [17] Compliment and complement, so often confused, are in effect doublets. They come from the same ultimate source, Latin complēmentum, a noun derived from complēre ‘fill up, finish’ (source of English complete and accomplish). English borrowed complement direct from Latin in the 14th century in the sense ‘fulfilment, accomplishment’, and by the 16th century this had developed the more specific metaphorical meaning ‘fulfilment of the obligation of politeness’ – hence ‘polite words of praise’.

But then in the 17th century came competition in the form of compliment, also meaning ‘polite words of praise’. This also came from Latin complēmentum, but along a circuitous route via Vulgar Latin *complimentum, Spanish cumplimiento, and French compliment. It gradually took over from complement in this ‘flattering’ sense, while complement went on to develop its leading current meaning, ‘counterpart’, in the 19th century.
=> accomplish, complement, complete, comply, expletive, plenary, plenty
comply: comply: [17] Like accomplish, complete, complement, and compliment, comply comes from Latin complēre ‘fill up, finish’. It was originally acquired in the 14th century, via Old French complire, but does not seem to have survived, and the sudden explosion in its use in the early 17th century represents a new borrowing, from Italian complire. Italian had the word from Spanish cumplir, in which the meaning ‘be courteous’ had developed. This passed into English, and though long defunct, seems to have been the basis of the modern English sense ‘be amenable or obedient’. Compliant [17] is an English development.
=> complete, compliant, compliment
expletive: expletive: [17] Originally, an expletive word was simply one used to ‘fill up’ a line of verse, to complete its metrical pattern (expletive comes from Latin explētus, the past participle of explēre ‘fill out’, a compound formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and plēre ‘fill’, source of English complete and related to English fill).

Hence the term came to be used for a redundant word, not contributing anything to the meaning of the sentence: “The Key my loose, powerless fingers forsook”, a lame and expletive way of saying “I dropt the key”, Robert Southey 1804. The first recorded example of its euphemistic application as a noun to ‘profanities’ is by Sir Walter Scott in Guy Mannering 1815: ‘retaining only such of their expletives as are least offensive’.
=> complete, full
full: full: [OE] Full and its verbal derivative fill go back ultimately to the Indo-European base *plē-, which also produced Latin plēnus ‘full’ (source of English plenary, plenty, and replenish, and of French plein and Italian pieno ‘full’) and English complete, deplete [19] (literally ‘unfill, empty’), implement, plebeian, plethora, plural, plus, replete [14], supply, and surplus [14].

The Indo- European derivative *plnós passed into prehistoric Germanic as *fulnaz, which eventually became *fullaz, source of German voll, Dutch vol, and Swedish and English full. Fulfil dates from the late Old English period; it originally meant literally ‘fill full, fill up’.
=> complete, deplete, fill, implement, plenty, plethora, plural, plus, replete, supply, surplus
implement: implement: [15] The idea underlying implement is of ‘filling up’. It comes ultimately from Latin implēre, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix in- and plēre ‘fill’ (as in English complete). This originally meant ‘fill up’, and hence ‘fulfil’, but in post-classical times, under the influence of implicāre (source of English employ) it came to mean ‘use, employ’, and so the derived plural noun implēmenta denoted ‘things used, equipment’.

It was originally used in the plural in English too, and it was not until the 16th century that the singular ‘tool’ emerged. The original Latin sense ‘fulfil’ is preserved much more closely in the verb implement, which was an independent and considerably later introduction, first recorded in Scottish English in the 19th century. (From the same source come English complement and supplement.)
=> complement, complete, supplement
supply: supply: [14] Latin supplēre meant ‘fill up, complete’. It was a compound verb formed from the prefix sub- ‘under, from below’, hence ‘up’, and plēre ‘fill’ (source of English accomplish, complete, etc). The sense ‘provide’ evolved via the notion of ‘making good a deficiency, fulfilling a need’. The original meaning is better preserved in supplement [14], whose Latin ancestor supplēmentum was derived from supplēre.
=> accomplish, complete, full, plus, supplement, surplus
ullage: ullage: [15] Ullage denotes the amount of unfilled space in a wine bottle or barrel. It goes back ultimately to Latin oculus ‘eye’ (a distant relative of English eye), in the metaphorical sense ‘bung-hole of a barrel’. As the word passed into Old French as oeil, this meaning followed it, and it formed the basis of a varb ouiller ‘fill up a barrel to the bung-hole’. From this was derived ouillage, which English acquired via Anglo-Norman ulliage as ullage.
=> eye, ocular
accomplish (v.): late 14c., from Old French acompliss-, present participle stem of acomplir "to fulfill, fill up, complete" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *accomplere, from Latin ad- "to" (see ad-) + complere "fill up" (see complete (adj.)). Related: Accomplished; accomplishing.
complement (n.): late 14c., "that which completes," from Old French compliement "accomplishment, fulfillment" (14c., Modern French complément), from Latin complementum "that which fills up or completes," from complere "fill up" (see complete (adj.)). Originally also having senses which were taken up c. 1650-1725 by compliment.
complete (adj.): late 14c., from Old French complet "full," or directly from Latin completus, past participle of complere "to fill up, complete the number of (a legion, etc.)," transferred to "to fill, to fulfill, to finish (a task)," from com-, intensive prefix (see com-), + plere "to fill" (see pleio-).
completion (n.): late 14c., from Latin completionem (nominative completio), noun of action from past participle stem of complere "to fill up, complete" (see complete (adj.)).
comply (v.): early 14c., "to fulfill, carry out," from Old French compli, past participle of complir "to accomplish, fulfill, carry out," from Vulgar Latin *complire, from Latin complere "to fill up" (see complete (adj.)). Meaning influenced by ply (v.2). Sense of "to consent" began c. 1600 and might have been a reintroduction from Italian, where complire had come to mean "satisfy by 'filling up' the forms of courtesy."
expletive (n.): 1610s, "a word or phrase serving to fill out a sentence or metrical line," from Middle French explétif (15c.) and directly from Late Latin expletivus "serving to fill out," from explet-, past participle stem of Latin explere "fill out, fill up, glut," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + plere "to fill" (see pleio-).

Sense of "an exclamation," especially "a curse word, an oath," first recorded 1815 in Sir Walter Scott, popularized by edited transcripts of Watergate tapes (mid-1970s), in which expletive deleted replaced President Nixon's salty expressions. As an adjective, from 1660s.
fill (v.): Old English fyllan "to fill, make full, fill up, replenish, satisfy; complete, fulfill," from Proto-Germanic *fulljan "to fill" (cognates: Old Saxon fulljan, Old Norse fylla, Old Frisian fella, Dutch vullen, German füllen, Gothic fulljan "to fill, make full"), a derivative of adjective *fullaz "full" (see full (adj.)). Related: Filled.

To fill the bill (1882) originally was U.S. theatrical slang, in reference to a star of such magnitude his or her name would be the only one on a show's poster. To fill out "write in required matter" is recorded from 1880.
fulfill (v.): Old English fullfyllan "fill up" (a room, a ship, etc.), "make full; take the place of (something)," from full (adj.), here perhaps with a sense of "completion" + fyllan (see fill (v.), which is ultimately from the same root). Used from mid-13c. in reference to prophecy (probably translating Latin implere, adimplere). From mid-13c. as "do, perform; carry out, consummate, carry into effect;" from c. 1300 as "complete, finish; satiate, satisfy, gratify." Related: Fulfilled; fulfilling. Modern English combinations with full tend to have it at the end of the word (as -ful), but this is a recent development and in Old English it was more common at the start, but this word and fulsome appear to be the only survivors.
replenish (v.): mid-14c., from Old French repleniss-, extended present participle stem of replenir "to fill up," from re-, here probably an intensive prefix, + -plenir, from Latin plenus "full" (see plenary). Related: Replanished; replenishing.
round (v.): late 14c., "to make round," from round (adj.). Sense of "make a circuit round" is from 1590s. Sense of "bring to completeness" is from c. 1600; meaning "to approximate (a number)" is from 1934. Meaning "turn round and face, turn on and assault" is from 1882. Round out "fill up" is from 1856. Related: Rounded; rounding.
shim (n.): 1723, a Kentish word of unknown origin. Originally a piece of iron fitted to a plow for scraping soil; meaning "thin slip of wood to fill up a space or raise a level" is from 1860.
supplement (n.): late 14c., from Latin supplementum "that which fills up, that with which anything is made full or whole, something added to supply a deficiency," from supplere "to fill up" (see supply (v.)).
supply (v.): late 14c., "to help, support, maintain," also "fill up, make up for," from Old French soupplier "fill up, make full" (Modern French suppléer) and directly from Latin supplere "fill up, make full, complete," from sub "up from below" (see sub-) + plere "to fill" (see pleio-). The meaning "furnish, provide" first recorded 1520s. Related: Supplied; supplying.
top (v.): "put a top on," 1580s, perhaps mid-15c., from top (n.1). Earlier "cut the top off, shave the head" (c. 1300). The meaning "be higher or greater than" also is first recorded 1580s. Meaning "strike (a ball) towards its top" is from 1881. Related: Topped; topping. To top off "to finish" is colloquial from 1836; in sense "fill up, add more to to bring to fullness" it is from 1917.
ullage (n.): "amount by which a cask or bottle falls short of being full," late 15c., from Anglo-French ulliage (early 14c.), Anglo-Latin oliagium (late 13c.), Old French ouillage, from ouiller "to fill up (a barrel) to the bung," literally "to fill to the eye," from ueil "eye" (perhaps used colloquially for "bung"), from Latin oculus (see eye (n.)).
wall (v.): "to enclose with a wall," late Old English *weallian (implied in geweallod), from the source of wall (n.). Meaning "fill up (a doorway, etc.) with a wall" is from c. 1500. Meaning "shut up in a wall, immure" is from 1520s. Related: Walled; walling.
suppletion: "The occurrence of an unrelated form to fill a gap in a conjugation (e.g. went as the past tense of go)", Middle English: from Old French, from medieval Latin suppletio(n-), from supplere 'fill up, make full' (see supply¹).