英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

chaffinch: chaffinch: [OE] Etymologically, a chaffinch is a finch which gets its food by pecking amongst the chaff and other grain debris in the barnyard. The word chaff itself (Old English ceaf) probably goes back to a prehistoric Germanic base *kaf-, *kef- ‘chew’, which was also the source of chafer ‘beetle’ [OE] (literally the ‘chewing creature’) and jowl. (The verb chaff ‘make fun of’ [19], on the other hand, is probably an alteration of chafe, which came via Old French chaufer and Vulgar Latin *califāre from Latin calefacere ‘make warm’, a relative of English cauldron and calorie.)
=> chafer, jowl
illusion: illusion: [14] The notion of ‘play’ is at the etymological heart of illusion (as indeed of its close relatives allusion [16], delusion [15], and elude [16]). It came via Old French from Latin illūsiō, a derivative of illūdere ‘make fun of’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix in- and lūdere ‘play’ (source of English ludicrous [17]). In classical Latin illūsiō meant ‘mockery’, and no semantic shift seems to have taken place until post-classical times, when it moved to ‘deceit’ (a sense originally taken over by English).
=> allusion, delusion, elude, ludicrous
quiz: quiz: [19] No one has ever been able satisfactorily to explain the origins of quiz. A word of that form first appeared at the end of the 18th century, meaning ‘odd person’ or, as a verb, ‘make fun of’ (in the early 19th century it was claimed to have been coined by a Dublin theatre proprietor by the name of Daly, but no proof has ever been found for this). The verb later came to be used for ‘look at mockingly or questioningly through a monocle’, and it may be that this led on (perhaps helped by associations with inquisitive or Latin quis? ‘who?, what?’) to the sense ‘interrogate’.
scorn: scorn: [12] Scorn reached English via Old French, but it is ultimately of Germanic origin. Its immediate source was Old French escharnir, a descendant of Vulgar Latin *escarnīre. This had been borrowed from a prehistoric Germanic *skarnjan ‘mock, deride, make fun of’. A product of the same base was Middle High German scherz ‘joke, jest’, which was borrowed into Italian as scherzo and subsequently made its way into English as the musical term scherzo ‘lively passage’ [19].
=> scherzo
tease: tease: [OE] Tease originally meant ‘separate the fibres of wool’ (a sense still perceptible in the metaphorical tease out ‘disentangle something complicated’). It came from a prehistoric West Germanic *taisjan, whose base was also the source of English teasel [OE], a plant whose prickly flower heads were used for carding wool. The notion of ‘irritating someone with prickles’ led in the 17th century to tease being used for ‘pester’, which gradually weakened into ‘make fun of’.
fun (n.): "diversion, amusement, mirthful sport," 1727, earlier "a cheat, trick" (c. 1700), from verb fun (1680s) "to cheat, hoax," which is of uncertain origin, probably a variant of Middle English fonnen "befool" (c. 1400; see fond). Scantly recorded in 18c. and stigmatized by Johnson as "a low cant word." Older senses are preserved in phrase to make fun of (1737) and funny money "counterfeit bills" (1938, though this use of the word may be more for the sake of the rhyme). See also funny. Fun and games "mirthful carryings-on" is from 1906.
gab (v.): "talk much," 1786, probably via Scottish and northern England dialect from earlier sense "speak foolishly; talk indiscreetly" (late 14c.), from gabben "to scoff, jeer; mock (someone), ridicule; reproach (oneself)," also "to lie to" (late 13c.), from a Scandinavian source, such as Old Norse gabba "to mock, make fun of," and probably in part from Old French gaber "to mock, jest; brag, boast," which, too, is from Scandinavian. Ultimately perhaps imitative (compare gabble, which might have shaded the sense of this word). Gabber was Middle English for "liar, deceiver; mocker." Related: Gabbed; gabbing.
josh (v.): "to make fun of, to banter," 1845, American English; according to "Dictionary of American Slang," the earliest example is capitalized, hence it is probably from the familiar version of the proper name Joshua, but just which Joshua, or why, is long forgotten. Perhaps it was taken as a typical name of an old farmer. The word was in use earlier than the career of U.S. humorist Josh Billings, pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw (1818-1885), who did not begin to write and lecture until 1860; but his popularity after 1869 may have influence that of the word.
About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment. ["Josh Billings"]
Related: Joshed; joshing.
mock (v.): early 15c., "to deceive;" mid-15c. "make fun of," from Old French mocquer "deride, jeer," of unknown origin, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *muccare "to blow the nose" (as a derisive gesture), from Latin mucus; or possibly from Middle Dutch mocken "to mumble" or Middle Low German mucken "grumble." Or perhaps simply imitative of such speech. Related: Mocked; mocking; mockingly. Replaced Old English bysmerian. Sense of "imitating," as in mockingbird and mock turtle (1763), is from notion of derisive imitation.
rally (v.2): "make fun of, tease," 1660s, from French railler "to rail, reproach" (see rail (v.)).
ridicule (v.): 1680s, "make ridiculous," from ridicule (n.) or else from French ridiculer, from ridicule. Meaning "make fun of" is from c. 1700. Related: Ridiculed; ridiculing.
roast (v.): late 13c., "to cook by dry heat," from Old French rostir "to roast, burn" (Modern French rôtir), from Frankish *hraustjan (cognate with Old High German rosten, German rösten, Middle Dutch roosten "to roast"), originally "cook on a grate or gridiron," related to Germanic words meaning "gridiron, grate;" such as German Rost, Middle Dutch roost.

Intransitive sense "be very hot, be exposed to great heat" is from c. 1300. The meaning "make fun of in an affectionate way" is from 1710. From the same source as roster. Related: Roasted; roasting. Roast beef first recorded 1630s (French rosbif is from English).
scoff (v.): mid-14c., "jest, make light of something;" mid-15c., "make fun of, mock," from the noun meaning "contemptuous ridicule" (c. 1300), from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse skaup, skop "mockery, ridicule," Middle Danish skof "jest, mockery;" perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skub-, *skuf- (cognates: Old English scop "poet," Old High German scoph "fiction, sport, jest, derision"), from PIE *skeubh- "to shove" (see shove (v.)).
send-up (n.): "a spoof," British slang, 1958, from verbal phrase send up "to mock, make fun of" (1931), from send (v.) + up (adv.), perhaps a transferred sense of the public school term for "to send a boy to the headmaster" (usually for punishment), which is attested from 1821.