英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

croissant [croissant 词源字典]: croissant: see crescent
[croissant etymology, croissant origin, 英语词源]
embroidery: embroidery: [14] Embroidery comes from Anglo-Norman enbrouderie, a derivative of the verb enbrouder. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix en- ‘in’ and broisder ‘embroider’ (a borrowing from Frankish *brusdan). English originally borrowed the verb as embroud, but soon extended it to embrouder (the early substitution of -broid- for -broud- may have been due to the influence of broiden, the Middle English past participle of braid).
groin: groin: [15] Unravelling the history of groin required a good deal of detective work, and the answer that the 19th-century etymologist Walter Skeat came up with was the rather surprising one that it is related to ground. The root on which this was formed was prehistoric Germanic *grundu-, which also produced the derivative *grundja-. This passed into Old English as grynde, which seems originally to have meant ‘depression in the ground’ (although the more extreme ‘abyss’ is its only recorded sense).

It appears to correspond to Middle English grynde ‘groin’ (‘If the pricking be in the foot, anoint the grynde with hot common oil’, Lanfranc’s Science of Surgery 1400 – evidently an example of reflexology), and the theory is that the original sense ‘depression in the ground’ became transferred figuratively to the ‘depression between the abdomen and the thighs’.

By the late 15th century grynde had become gryne, and (by the not uncommon phonetic change of /ee/ to /oi/) this metamorphosed to groin in the late 16th century. (Groyne ‘wall projecting into the sea’ [16] is a different word. It is a transferred use of the now obsolete groin ‘pig’s snout’ [14], which came via Old French groin from Latin grunnīre ‘grunt’.)
perestroika: perestroika: [20] Along with glasnost, perestroika was catapulted into English from Russian in the mid-1980s by Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms in the Soviet Union. It means literally ‘rebuilding, reconstruction, reform’, and is a compound formed from pere- ‘re-’ and stroika ‘building, construction’. In the context of Gorbachev’s sweeping changes, it denotes a ‘sweeping restructuring of Soviet society, industry, etc’.
roister: roister: see rural
thyroid: thyroid: [18] The thyroid glands are situated in the neck, and they get their name ultimately from a comparison of the shape of the large oblong cartilage in front of the throat (which includes the Adam’s apple) with that of a door. The word comes via early modern French thyroide from Greek thuroidés ‘door-shaped’, an alteration of thureoeidés, which was derived from thúrā ‘door’ (a relative of English door). The term khóndros thureoiedés, literally ‘door-shaped cartilage’, was used by the Greek physician Galen for the ‘cartilage in front of the throat’ (now known in English as the thyroid cartilage).
=> door, foreign
adroit (adj.): 1650s, "dexterous," originally "rightly," from French adroit, from phrase à droit "according to right," from Old French à "to" (see ad-) + droit "right," from Late Latin directum "right, justice," accusative of Latin directus "straight" (see direct (v.)). Related: Adroitly; adroitness.
android (n.): "automaton resembling a human being," 1837, in early use often in reference to automated chess players, from Modern Latin androides (itself attested as a Latin word in English from 1727), from Greek andro- "male" (see andro-) + -eides "form, shape" (see -oid). Greek androdes meant "like a man, manly;" compare also Greek andrias "image of a man, statue." Listed as "rare" in OED 1st edition (1879), popularized from c. 1951 by science fiction writers.
aroint (v.): intransitive verb, c. 1600, used by Shakespeare (only in imperative: "begone!"), obsolete and of obscure origin. "[T]he subject of numerous conjectures, none of which can be said to have even a prima facie probability." [OED]
asteroid (n.): 1802, coined probably by German-born English astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822) from Greek asteroeides "star-like," from aster "star" (see astro-) + -eidos "form, shape" (see -oid).
astroid (adj.): "star-shaped," 1897, from Greek astroeides, from astron "star" (see astro-) + -oeides (see -oid).
broil (v.1): "to cook," late 14c. (earlier "to burn," mid-14c.), from Old French bruller "to broil, roast" (Modern French brûler), earlier brusler "to burn" (11c.), which, with Italian bruciare, is of uncertain and much-disputed origin.

Perhaps from Vulgar Latin *brodum "broth," borrowed from Germanic and ultimately related to brew (v.). Gamillscheg proposes it to be from Latin ustulare "to scorch, singe" (from ustus, past participle of urere "to burn") and altered by influence of Germanic "burn" words beginning in br-. Related: Broiled; broiling.
broil (v.2): early 15c., "to quarrel, brawl," also "mix up, present in disorder," from Anglo-French broiller "mix up, confuse," Old French brooillier "to mix, mingle," figuratively "to have sexual intercourse" (13c., Modern French brouiller), perhaps from breu, bro "stock, broth, brew," from Frankish or another Germanic source (compare Old High German brod "broth") akin to broth (see brew (v.)); also compare imbroglio.
broiler (n.): late 14c., "grill or gridiron used in broiling," agent noun from broil (v.1). From c. 1300 as a surname, perhaps meaning "cook who specializes in broiling." Meaning "chicken for broiling" is from 1876.
choroid (adj.): 1680s, from Latinized form of Greek khoroeides, a corruption of khorioeides, from khorion (see chorion) + eidos "resemblance" (see -oid).
corticosteroid (n.): by 1945, from cortico-, word-forming element from comb. form of Latin cortex "bark of a tree" (see cortex), applied since c. 1890 to various surface structures of plants, animals, or organs + steroid. So called because they are produced in the adrenal cortex. Related: Corticosterone.
croissant (n.): 1899, see crescent.
Detroit: city in Michigan, U.S., from French détroit, literally "straits," from Old French destreit (12c.), from Latin districtum, neuter of districtus. French fort built there 1701. By 1918 the city name was synonymous with "U.S. automobile manufacturing."
droid (n.): 1977, short for android.
droit du seigneur (n.): 1784, alleged medieval custom whereby the feudal lord had the right to have sex with the bride of his vassal on their wedding night before she went to her husband, from French, literally "the lord's right." There is little evidence that it actually existed; it seems to have been invented in imagination 16c. or 17c. The Latin form was jus primae noctis, "law of the first night." For French droit, see right (adj.2).
embroider (v.): late 14c., from Anglo-French enbrouder, from en- "in" (see en- (1)) + broisder "embroider," from Frankish *brozdon, from Proto-Germanic *bruzdajan. Spelling with -oi- is from c. 1600, perhaps by influence of broiden, irregular alternative Middle English past participle of braid (v.). Related: Embroidered; embroidering.
embroidery (n.): late 14c., embrouderie "art of embroidering;" see embroider + -y (4). Meaning "embroidered work" is from 1560s.
embroil (v.): c. 1600, "throw into disorder," from French embrouillier "entangle, confuse, embroil" (cognate of Italian imbrogliare), from assimilated form of en- "in" (see en- (1)) + brouiller "confuse," from Old French brooillier (see broil (v.2)). Sense of "involve in a quarrel" is first attested c. 1610. Related: Embroiled; embroiling. Embrangle "mix confusedly" is from 1660s.
fibroid (adj.): 1848, from fiber + -oid.
groin (n.): "oblique depression of the body between the abdomen and thighs," 1590s, earlier grine (1530s), from Middle English grynde "groin" (c. 1400), originally "depression in the ground," from Old English grynde "abyss," perhaps also "depression, hollow," from Proto-Germanic *grundus (see ground (n.)). Altered 16c. by influence of loin or obsolete groin "snout of a pig." The architectural groin "curving edge formed by the intersection of two vaults" is from 1725.
heroic (adj.): 1540s, shortened from heroical (early 15c.), also heroycus "noble, magnanimous," from Latin heroicus "of a hero, heroic, mythical," from Greek heroikos "pertaining to heroes," from heros (see hero (n.1)). Earlier was heroical (early 15c.). The Heroic Age in Greece was the time before the return of the armies from the fall of Troy. Related: Heroically. Heroic verse (1610s), decasyllabic iambic, is from Italian.
heroics (n.): 1590s, "heroic verse" (see heroic). Meaning "deeds worthy of a hero" attested by 1831.
heroin (n.): 1898, from German Heroin, coined 1898 as trademark registered by Friedrich Bayer & Co. for their morphine substitute, traditionally from Greek heros (see hero (n.1)) because of the euphoric feeling the drug provides, but no evidence for this seems to have been found so far.
A new hypnotic, to which the name of "heroin" has been given, has been tried in the medical clinic of Professor Gerhardt in Berlin. ["The Lancet," Dec. 3, 1898]
heroine (n.): 1650s, from Latin heroine, heroina (plural heroinae) "a female hero, a demigoddess" (such as Medea), from Greek heroine, fem. of heros (see hero (n.1)). As "principal female character" in a drama or poem, from 1715.
heroism (n.): 1717, from French héroisme, from heros (see hero (n.1)).
hyperthyroidism (n.): 1895, from hyper- + thyroid + -ism.
introit (n.): late 15c., from Old French introit (14c.), from Latin introitus "a going in," past participle of introire "to enter," from intro- (see intro-) + ire "to go" (see ion).
macroinstruction (n.): also macro-instruction, 1959, from macro- + instruction.
maladroit (adj.): 1670s, from mal- + adroit. Related: Maladroitly; maladroitness.
menage a trois (n.): 1891, see menage.
meteoroid (n.): "rock floating in space, which becomes a meteor when it enters Earth's atmosphere," formed in English, 1865, from meteor + -oid.
microinstruction (n.): 1959, from micro- + instruction.
negroid (adj.): 1844, a hybrid, from Negro and Greek suffix -oeides "like, resembling" (see -oid). As a noun from 1859.
perestroika (n.): 1981, from Russian perestroika, literally "rebuilding, reconstruction, reform" (of Soviet society, etc.), from pere- "re-" (from Old Russian pere- "around, again," from Proto-Slavic *per-, from PIE *per- (1) "forward, through;" see per) + stroika "building, construction," from Old Russian stroji "order," from PIE *stroi-, from root *stere- "to spread" (see structure (n.)). First proposed at the 26th Party Congress (1981); popularized in English 1985 during Mikhail Gorbachev's leadership of the U.S.S.R.
Polaroid (n.): material which in thin sheets produces a high degree of plane polarization of light passing through it, 1936, proprietary name (Sheet Polarizer Co., Union City, N.J.). As a type of camera producing prints rapidly, it is attested from 1961.
roil (v.): 1580s, of uncertain origin, probably from Middle French rouiller "to rust, make muddy," from Old French roil "mud, muck, rust" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *robicula, from Latin robigo "rust" (see robust). An earlier borrowing of the French verb is Middle English roil "to roam or rove about" (early 14c.). Related: Roiled; roiling.
roister (v.): "bluster, swagger, be bold, noisy, vaunting, or turbulent," 1580s, from an obsolete noun roister "noisy bully" (1550s, displaced by 19c. by roisterer), from Middle French ruistre "ruffian," from Old French ruiste "boorish, gross, uncouth," from Latin rusticus (see rustic (adj.)). Related: Roistered; roistering. Ralph Royster-Doyster is the title and lead character of what is sometimes called the first English comedy (Udall, 1555).
sang-froid (n.): "presence of mind, composure," 1712, from French sang froid, literally "cool blood," from sang "blood" (from Latin sanguis; see sanguinary) + froid "cold" (from Latin frigidus; see frigid).
spheroid (n.): "body resembling, but not identical with, a sphere," 1560s, from Latin sphaeroides, from Greek sphairoeides "ball-like, spherical," from sphaira (see sphere) + -oeides "form" (see -oid). As an adjective from 1767. Related: Spheroidal.
steroid (n.): naturally occuring substance based on a carbon skeleton similar to that of sterol molecules, 1936, from sterol + -oid "resembling." Related: Steroids.
thyroid (adj.): 1690s (in reference to both the cartilage and the gland), from Greek thyreoiedes "shield-shaped" (in khondros thyreoiedes "shield-shaped cartilage," used by Galen to describe the "Adam's apple" in the throat), from thyreos "oblong, door-shaped shield" (from thyra "door," from PIE *dhwer-; see door) + -eides "form, shape" (see -oid). The noun, short for thyroid gland, is recorded from 1849.
troika (n.): 1842, "carriage drawn by three horses abreast," from Russian troika "three-horse team, any group of three," from collective numeral troje "group of three" (from PIE *tro-yo-, suffixed form of *trei-, see three) + diminutive suffix -ka. Sense of "any group of three administrators, triumvirate" is first recorded 1945.
theroid: "Resembling an animal; bestial", Mid 19th century: from Greek thēr 'beast' + -oid.
droit de seigneur: "The alleged right of a medieval feudal lord to have sexual intercourse with a vassal’s bride on her wedding night", French, literally 'lord's right'.
sangfroid: "Composure or coolness shown in danger or under trying circumstances", Mid 18th century: from French sang-froid, literally 'cold blood'.