英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

geek (n.)[geek 词源字典]: "sideshow freak," 1916, U.S. carnival and circus slang, perhaps a variant of geck "a fool, dupe, simpleton" (1510s), apparently from Dutch gek or Low German geck, from an imitative verb found in North Sea Germanic and Scandinavian meaning "to croak, cackle," and also "to mock, cheat" (Dutch gekken, German gecken, Danish gjække, Swedish gäcka). The modern form and the popular use with reference to circus sideshow "wild men" is from 1946, in William Lindsay Gresham's novel "Nightmare Alley" (made into a film in 1947 starring Tyrone Power).
"An ordinary geek doesn't actually eat snakes, just bites off chunks of 'em, chicken heads and rats." [Arthur H. Lewis, "Carnival," 1970]
By c. 1983, used in teenager slang in reference to peers who lacked social graces but were obsessed with new technology and computers (such as the Anthony Michael Hall character in 1984's "Sixteen Candles").
geek out vi. To temporarily enter techno-nerd mode while in a non-hackish context, for example at parties held near computer equipment. [Eric S. Raymond, "The New Hacker's Dictionary," 1996]
[geek etymology, geek origin, 英语词源]
jitterbug (n.): popular type of fast swing dance, 1938, American English, from "Jitter Bug," title of a song recorded by Cab Calloway in 1934. Probably the literal sense is "one who has the jitters" (see jitters; for second element see bug (n.) in the slang "person obsessed with" sense). Another sense current about this time was "swing music enthusiast." As a verb from 1938.
ravenous (adj.): late 14c., "obsessed with plundering, extremely greedy," from Old French ravinos, of people, "rapacious, violent," of water, "swift-flowing," from raviner "to seize," from ravine "violent rush, robbery" (see ravine). Meaning "voracious, very hungry" is from early 15c. Related: Ravenously; ravenousness.
nymphet: "An attractive and sexually mature young girl", 1950s: from nymph + -et¹. More Lolita from mid 20th century:In Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita ( 1958), Humbert Humbert, a man in his late 30s, becomes sexually obsessed with Dolores Haze, a 12-year-old girl whom he dubs Lolita, a pet form of Dolores. The book's disturbing subject matter created a scandal when it was published in the USA, but it gave the world two words for ‘a sexually precocious young girl’, Lolita itself and nymphet.
otaku: "(In Japan) a young person who is obsessed with computers or particular aspects of popular culture to the detriment of their social skills", Japanese, literally 'your house', in formal speech also meaning 'you', used by some anime and manga fans as an affectedly formal way of addressing others with similar interests.