quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- anode
- anode: [19] The term anode, meaning ‘positive electrode’, appears to have been introduced by the English philosopher William Whewell around 1834. It was based on Greek ánodos ‘way up’, a compound noun formed from aná- ‘up’ and hodós ‘way’ (also represented in exodus ‘way out’ and odometer ‘instrument for measuring distance travelled’, and possibly related to Latin cēdere, source of English cede and a host of derived words). It specifically contrasts with cathode, which means literally ‘way down’.
=> exodus, odometer - cathode
- cathode: [19] The term cathode, meaning ‘negative electrode’, appears to have been introduced by the English philosopher William Whewell around 1834. It was based on Greek káthodos ‘way down’, a compound formed from katá- ‘down’ and hodós ‘way’ (also represented in exodus ‘way out’ and odometer ‘instrument for measuring distance travelled’, and possibly related to Latin cēdere, source of English cede and a host of derived words). It specifically contrasts with anode, which means literally ‘way up’.
=> exodus, odometer - mediocre
- mediocre: [16] Etymologically, mediocre means ‘halfway up a mountain’. It comes from Latin mediocris ‘of middle height, in a middle state’, which was formed from medius ‘middle’ (source of English medium) and ocris ‘rough stony mountain’.
=> medium - anode (n.)
- 1834, coined from Greek anodos "way up," from ana "up" (see ana-) + hodos "way" (see cede). Proposed by the Rev. William Whewell (1794-1866), English polymath, and published by English chemist and physicist Michael Faraday (1791-1867). So called from the path the electrical current was thought to take. Related: Anodic.
- mediocre (adj.)
- 1580s, from Middle French médiocre (16c.), from Latin mediocris "of middling height or state, moderate, ordinary," figuratively "mediocre, mean, inferior," originally "halfway up a mountain," from medius "middle" (see medial (adj.)) + ocris "jagged mountain" (cognate with Greek okris "peak, point," Welsh ochr "corner, border," Latin acer "sharp;" see acrid). As a noun, "medicore thing or person," by 1834.
- separate (adj.)
- "detached, kept apart," c. 1600, from separate (v.) or from Latin separatus. Separate but equal in reference to U.S. segregation policies on railroads is attested from 1888. Separate development, official name of apartheid in South Africa, is from 1955. Related: Separately (1550s); separateness.
Frequently the colored coach is little better than a cattle car. Generally one half the smoking car is reserved for the colored car. Often only a cloth curtain or partition run half way up separates this so-called colored car from the smoke, obscene language, and foul air of the smokers' half of the car. All classes and conditions of colored humanity, from the most cultured and refined to the most degraded and filthy, without regard to sex, good breeding or ability to pay for better accommodation, are crowded into this separate, but equal (?) half car. [Rev. Norman B. Wood, "The White Side of a Black Subject," 1897]