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which [which 词源字典]: which: [OE] Etymologically, which means ‘what like, of what form or sort?’ The word was formed in the prehistoric Germanic period from the interrogative base *khwa-, *khwe- (source of English what, who, etc) and *līka- ‘body, form’ (source of English like and also incorporated into English each and such). Its Germanic relatives include German welch and Dutch welk ‘which’.
=> like[which etymology, which origin, 英语词源]
Whig: Whig: [17] Whig appears to be short for the now obsolete Scottish term whiggamaire. This presumably originally meant ‘horse-driver’ (it is assumed to have been formed from the Scottish verb whig ‘drive’, whose origins are not known, and maire, a Scottish form of mare ‘female horse’), but its earliest recorded application was to Presbyterian supporters in Scotland. It was later adopted as a name for those who opposed the succession of the Catholic James II, and by 1689 it had established itself as the title of one of the two main British political parties, opposed to the Tories.
while: while: [OE] While comes via prehistoric Germanic *khwīlō from the Indo-European base *qwi-. This denoted ‘rest’, and its meaning was carried through into Latin quiēs (source of English quiet) and tranquillus (source of English tranquil) and Swedish hvila and Danish hvile ‘repose, refreshment’. In English, however, and the other Germanic languages (German weile and Dutch wijl), the notion of ‘rest’ has passed, presumably via ‘period of rest’, to ‘period of time’. English while was first used as a conjunction in the 12th century.
=> quiet, tranquil
whin: whin: see gorse
whip: whip: [13] Whip was originally a verb, meaning ‘move quickly’. It was probably borrowed from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch wippen ‘vacillate, swing’, which in turn went back to the prehistoric Germanic base *wip- ‘move quickly’ (source also of English wipe). And *wip- itself was descended from Indo-European *wib-, from which English gets vibrate. Wafer, weave, web, etc come from variants of the same base. The application of whip to a ‘flexible implement for lashing’ is first recorded in the 14th century.
=> vibrate, weave, wipe
whisk: whisk: see whist
whisky: whisky: [18] Whisky denotes etymologically ‘water of life’. The word is short for an earlier whiskybae, which was an alteration of usquebaugh; and this in turn was an anglicization of Gaelic uisge beatha ‘water of life’ (Gaelic uisge ‘water’ comes from the same Indo-European source as English water, and beatha ‘life’ is related to Latin vīta ‘life’ and English vital). The distinction in spelling between Scotch whisky and American and Irish whiskey goes back no further than the 19th century. French eau de vie ‘brandy’, literally ‘water of life’, is semantically identical.
=> vital, water
whisper: whisper: [OE] Whisper comes ultimately from the prehistoric Germanic base *khwis-, which imitated a sort of hissing sound. This also produced German wispeln and wispern ‘whisper’, and with a different suffix it gave English whistle.
=> whistle
whist: whist: [17] The game of whist was originally called whisk, and it is generally assumed that the name came from the ‘whisking’ away of the cards after the tricks had been taken (whisk [14] itself was borrowed from a Scandinavian source that went back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *wisk- ‘move quickly’). Charles Cotton, however, in his Complete Gamester 1680, said that it was ‘called Whist from the silence that is to be observed in the play’ (whist is also a now archaic exclamation meaning ‘be quiet!’).
whistle: whistle: [OE] Like whisper, whistle goes back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *khwis-, which denoted a ‘hissing’ sound. Related forms include Swedish vissla ‘whistle’ and Danish hvisle ‘hiss’.
=> whisper
white: white: [OE] White goes back ultimately to Indo- European *kwitnos or *kwidnos, which was formed from the same base as produced Sanskrit sveta- ‘white’ and Russian svet ‘light’. It passed into prehistoric Germanic as *khwītaz, which has since evolved into German weiss, Swedish vit, Danish hvid, and English white (Dutch wit comes from a variant of the same Germanic source). Wheat is etymologically the ‘white’ grain.
=> wheat, whitsun
white elephant: white elephant: see elephant
whitlow: whitlow: see flake
Whitsun: Whitsun: [OE] Whitsun is etymologically ‘white Sunday’. The name comes from the ancient tradition of clothing newly baptized people in white on the feast of Pentecost. The abbreviated form Whit began to be used with other days of the week (such as Whit Monday) in the 16th century, but its broader modern usage (as in Whit week, Whit bank holiday, etc) did not emerge until the end of the 19th century.
=> sunday, white
awhile (adv.): Old English ane hwile "(for) a while" (see while (n.)); usually written as one word since 13c.
awhirl (adj.): 1837, from a- (1) + whirl (v.).
bobwhite (n.): North American partridge, 1819, so called from the sound of its cry.
Dick Whittington: The story is an old one, told under other names throughout Europe, of a poor boy who sends a cat he had bought for a penny as his stake in a trading voyage; the captain sells it on his behalf for a fortune to a foreign king whose palace is overrun by rats. The hero devotes part of his windfall to charity, which may be why the legend attached in England since 16c. to Sir Richard Whittington (d.1423), three times Lord Mayor of London, who died childless and devoted large sums in his will to churches, almshouses, and St. Bartholomew's Hospital.
egg-white (n.): 1898, from egg (n.) + white (n.).
erstwhile (adv.): 1560s, "formerly," from erst "first, at first; once, long ago; till now" (13c.), earlier erest from Old English ærest "soonest, earliest," superlative of ær (see ere) + while (adv.). As an adjective, "former," from 1903. Cognate with Old Saxon and Old High German erist, German erst.
Hepplewhite: as a modifier, by 1878, in reference to style of furniture introduced in England by cabinetmaker George Hepplewhite (d.1786). The proper name is from Heblethwaite, near Sedbergh in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
horse-whip (n.): 1690s, from horse (n.) + whip (n.). As a verb from 1768. Related: Horserwhipped; horsewhipping.
lily-white (adj.): early 14c., from lily + white; from 1903 with reference to whites-only segregation; 1964 as "irreproachable."
meanwhile (n.): also mean while, mid-14c., from mean (adj.2) "middle, intermediate" + while (n.). Late 14c. as an adverb.
nowhither (adv.): "toward no place," Old English nahwiðer; see no + whither.
off-white (n.): "white with a tinge of gray or yellow," 1927, from off (adv.) + white (n.).
rawhide (n.): "material cut from untanned skins of cattle," 1650s, from raw (adj.) + hide (n.1).
snow-white (adj.): Old English snawhwit, from snow (n.) + white (adj.). Similar formation in Dutch sneeuwwit, Middle Low German snewhit, German schneeweiss, Old Norse snæhvitr, Swedish snöhvit, Danish snehvid. The fairy tale is so-called from 1885, translating German Schneewittchen in Grimm; the German name used in English by 1858.
somewhile (adv.): mid-12c., from some + while (n.).
somewhither (adv.): late 14c., from some + whither.
steam-whistle (n.): 1840, from steam (n.) + whistle (n.).
which (pron.): Old English hwilc (West Saxon, Anglian), hwælc (Northumbrian) "which," short for hwi-lic "of what form," from Proto-Germanic *hwa-lik- (cognates: Old Saxon hwilik, Old Norse hvelikr, Swedish vilken, Old Frisian hwelik, Middle Dutch wilk, Dutch welk, Old High German hwelich, German welch, Gothic hvileiks "which"), from *hwi- "who" (see who) + *likan "body, form" (cognates: Old English lic "body;" see like (adj.)). In Middle English used as a relative pronoun where Modern English would use who, as still in the Lord's Prayer. Old English also had parallel forms hwelc and hwylc, which disappeared 15c.
whichever (pron.): late 14c., from which + ever. Emphatic extended form whichsoever attested from mid-15c.
whicker (v.): 1650s, "snigger," imitative (compare snicker). As imitative of a sound made by a horse, from 1753. As the sound of something beating the air, from 1920. Related: Whickered; whickering.
whiff (n.): 13c., weffe "foul scent or odor," of imitative origin. Modern form became popular late 16c. with tobacco smoking, probably influenced by whiffle "blow in gusts or puffs" (1560s). The verb in the baseball slang sense "to swing at a ball and miss" first recorded 1913.
whiffle (v.): "flicker or flutter as if blown by the wind," 1660s; see whiff. The noun meaning "something light or insignificant" (1670s) is preserved in whiffle-ball (1931).
Whig: British political party, 1657, in part perhaps a disparaging use of whigg "a country bumpkin" (1640s); but mainly a shortened form of Whiggamore (1649) "one of the adherents of the Presbyterian cause in western Scotland who marched on Edinburgh in 1648 to oppose Charles I." Perhaps originally "a horse drover," from dialectal verb whig "to urge forward" + mare. In 1689 the name was first used in reference to members of the British political party that opposed the Tories. American Revolution sense of "colonist who opposes Crown policies" is from 1768. Later it was applied to opponents of Andrew Jackson (as early as 1825), and taken as the name of a political party (1834) that merged into the Republican Party in 1854-56.
[I]n the spring of 1834 Jackson's opponents adopted the name Whig, traditional term for critics of executive usurpations. James Watson Webb, editor of the New York Courier and Enquirer, encouraged use of the name. [Henry] Clay gave it national currency in a speech on April 14, 1834, likening "the whigs of the present day" to those who had resisted George III, and by summer it was official. [Daniel Walker Howe, "What Hath God Wrought," 2007, p.390]
Whig historian is recorded from 1924. Whig history is "the tendency in many historians ... to emphasise certain principles of progress in the past and to produce a story which is the ratification if not the glorification of the present." [Herbert Butterfield, "The Whig Interpretation of History," 1931]
Whiggery (n.): "principles or practices of the Whigs," 1680s, from Whig + -ery.
Whiggish (adj.): 1670s, from Whig + -ish.
while (n.): Old English hwile, accusative of hwil "a space of time," from Proto-Germanic *hwilo (cognates: Old Saxon hwil, Old Frisian hwile, Old High German hwila, German Weile, Gothic hveila "space of time, while"), originally "rest" (compare Old Norse hvila "bed," hvild "rest"), from PIE *kwi-lo-, suffixed form of root *kweie- (2) "to rest" (cognates: Avestan shaitish "joy," Old Persian šiyatish "joy," Latin quies "rest, repose, quiet," Old Church Slavonic po-koji "rest"). Notion of "period of rest" became in Germanic "period of time."

Now largely superseded by time except in formulaic constructions (such as all the while). Middle English sense of "short space of time spent in doing something" now only preserved in worthwhile and phrases such as worth (one's) while. As a conjunction, "during or in the time that; as long as" (late Old English), it represents Old English þa hwile þe, literally "the while that." Form whiles is recorded from early 13c.; whilst is from late 14c., with excrescent -st as in amongst, amidst. Service while-you-wait is attested from 1911.
while (v.): "to cause (time) to pass (without dullness)," 1630s, earlier "to occupy or engage (someone or something) for a period of time" (c. 1600), new formation from while (n.), not considered to be from Middle English hwulen "to have leisure," which is from a Germanic verb form of while (n.) (compare German weilen "to stay, linger"). An association with phrases such as Shakespearean beguile the day, Latin diem decipere, French tromper le temps "has led to the substitution of WILE v by some modern writers" [OED] (see wile (v.)).
whilom (adv.): "at time past" (archaic), c. 1200, from Old English hwilum "at times," dative case of while (q.v.). As a conjunction from 1610s. Similar formation in German weiland "formerly."
whilst (adv.): late 14c., from while (q.v.) with adverbial genitive -s-, and excrescent -t- (as in amongst, amidst, betwixt).
whim (n.): 1640s, "play on words, pun," shortened from whimwham "fanciful object" (q.v.). Meaning "caprice, fancy, sudden turn or inclination of the mind" first recorded 1690s, probably a shortened form of whimsy.
whimper (v.): 1510s, probably of imitative origin, or from German wimmern "to whimper, moan." Related: Whimpered; whimpering. The noun is first recorded c. 1700.
whimsical (adj.): 1650s, from whimsy + -ical. Related: Whimsically.
whimsy (n.): c. 1600, probably related to whimwham.
whimwham (n.): "whimsical device, trifle," 1520s, of unknown origin; perhaps from Scandinavian (compare Old Norse hvima "to let the eyes wander," Norwegian kvima "to flutter"), or else an arbitrary native formation (compare flim-flam).
whine (v.): Old English hwinan "to whiz, hiss, or whistle through the air" (only of arrows), also hwinsian "to whine" (of dogs), ultimately of imitative origin (compare Old Norse hvina "to whiz," German wiehern "to neigh"). Meaning "to complain in a feeble way" is first recorded 1520s. Related: Whined; whining.
whine (n.): 1630s, from whine (v.).