quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- mine (n.1)




- "pit or tunnel in the earth for obtaining metals and minerals," c. 1300, from Old French mine "vein, lode; tunnel, shaft; mineral ore; mine" (for coal, tin, etc,), of uncertain origin, probably from a Celtic source (compare Welsh mwyn, Irish mein "ore, mine"), from Old Celtic *meini-. Italy and Greece were relatively poor in minerals, thus they did not contribute a word for this to English, but there was extensive mining from an early date in Celtic lands (Cornwall, etc.). From c. 1400 as "a tunnel under fortifications to overthrow them."
- wishy-washy (adj.)




- 1690s, "feeble or poor in quality," reduplication of washy "thin, watery." Meaning "vacillating" first recorded 1873.
- polysaprobic




- "Of, designating, or inhabiting an aquatic environment that is poor in dissolved oxygen and contains much chemically reducing decayed organic matter", 1920s. From poly- + saprobic, after German polysaprob; compare mesosaprobic, oligosaprobic.