英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

acrobat [acrobat 词源字典]: acrobat: [19] The Greek adjective ákros meant ‘topmost, at the tip or extremity’ (it derives ultimately from the Indo-European base *akmeaning ‘be pointed or sharp’, which also gave rise to acid, acute, oxygen, and edge). It crops up in acrophobia ‘fear of heights’; in acropolis ‘citadel’, literally ‘upper city’; in acromegaly ‘unnaturally enlarged condition of the hands, feet, and face’, literally ‘large extremities’; and in acronym, literally ‘word formed from the tips of words’. Acrobat itself means literally ‘walking on tiptoe’.

The -bat morpheme comes from Greek baínein ‘walk’, which is closely related to basis and base, and is also connected with come. Akrobátēs existed as a term in Greek, and reached English via French acrobate.
=> acid, acute, edge, oxygen[acrobat etymology, acrobat origin, 英语词源]
but: but: [OE] But originally meant ‘outside’. It was a compound word formed in prehistoric West Germanic from *be (source of English by) and *ūtana (related to English out). This gave Old English būtan, which quickly developed in meaning from ‘outside’ to ‘without, except’, as in ‘all but me’ (the sense ‘outside’ survived longer in Scotland than elsewhere). The modern conjunctive use of but did not develop until the late 13th century.
=> by, out
dean: dean: [14] Etymologically, a dean is someone in charge of a group of ten people. That was the meaning of its ancestor, Greek dekānós, a word formed from déka ‘ten’. This eventually came to designate specifically someone in charge of ten monks, and this sense passed via late Latin decānus, Old French deien, and Anglo-Norman deen into English as the ‘head of a cathedral’. The modern French descendant of deien, doyen, was reborrowed into English in the 17th century.
=> doyen
gannet: gannet: [OE] The gannet used to be known dialectally as the solan goose (solan was a compound formed in the 15th century from Old Norse súla ‘gannet’ and önd ‘duck’), and in fact the name gannet too reveals a perceived similarity between the gannet and the goose. For it comes ultimately from a prehistoric Germanic *ganitaz or *ganoton, a word formed from the same base as produced English gander [10].
=> gander
phone: phone: [20] Phone is of course short for telephone [19], a compound word formed from Greek tēle- ‘far off’ and phōné ‘voice, sound’ (a descendant of the Indo-European base *bha- ‘speak’, and related to English fable, fame, fate, etc). Other English words derived from or based on phōné include gramophone, megaphone [19], microphone, phonetic [19], phonology [18], saxophone, and xylophone.
=> fable, fame, fate
sesquipedalian: sesquipedalian: [17] Sesquipedalian means etymologically ‘a foot and a half long’. Its use in English was inspired by the Roman poet Horace’s phrase sesquipedalia verba, literally ‘words a foot and a half long’, hence ‘preposterously long words that sound pompous’ – of which sesquipedalian itself is an appropriately good example. It is a compound word formed from the Latin prefix sesqui- ‘half as much again’ (a derivative of sēmi- ‘half’) and pēs ‘foot’.
=> foot, pedal
welcome: welcome: [12] Old English had the greeting wilcume, which was a compound word formed from wil- ‘pleasure’ (ancestor of modern English will) and cume, a derivative of cuman ‘come’. From it was formed the verb wilcumian ‘welcome’. (German has the parallel wilkommen.) Then in the early Middle English period, due to the similarity of well and the influence of the parallel Old French greeting bienvenu (literally ‘well come’), it changed to welcome.
=> come, will
acronym (n.): word formed from the first letters of a series of words, 1943, American English coinage from acro- + -onym "name" (abstracted from homonym; see name (n.)). But for cabalistic esoterica and acrostic poetry, the practice was practically non-existent before 20c. For distinction of usage (not maintained on this site), see initialism.
alongside (adv.): 1707, from along + side (n.). A word formed from a phrase. Originally mostly nautical.
anew (adv.): c. 1300, a neue, from Old English of-niowe; see a- (1) + new. One-word form dominant from c. 1400.
anti-: word-forming element meaning "against, opposed to, opposite of, instead," from Old French anti- and directly from Latin anti-, from Greek anti "against, opposite, instead of," also used as a prefix, from PIE *anti- "against," also "in front of" (see ante). It appears in some words in Middle English but was not commonly used in word formations until modern times.
anybody (n.): c. 1300, ani-bodi, from any + body. One-word form is attested by 1826. Phrase anybody's game (or race, etc.) is from 1840.
anymore (adv.): one-word form by 1865, from any + more.
anyone (n.): Old English, two words, from any + one. Old English also used ænigmon in this sense. One-word form from 1844.
anytime (adv.): one-word form by 1854, from any + time (n.).
anyway (adv.): 1560s, any way "in any manner;" variant any ways (with adverbial genitive) attested from c. 1560, prepositional phrase by any way is from late 14c.; see any + way (n.). One-word form predominated from 1830s. As an adverbial conjunction, from 1859. Middle English in this sense had ani-gates "in any way, somehow" (c. 1400).
anywise (adv.): Old English ænige wisan, from any + wise (n.). One-word form from c. 1200.
astro-: element active in English word formation from mid-18c. and meaning "star or celestial body; outer space," from Greek astro-, stem and comb. form of astron "star," related to aster "star" (see star (n.)). In ancient Greek, aster typically was "a star" and astron mostly in plural, "the stars." In singular it mostly meant "Sirius" (the brightest star).
Carboniferous (adj.): 1830 with reference the geological period, from a word formed in English in 1799 to mean "coal-bearing," from Latin carbo (genitive carbonis) "coal" (see carbon) + -ferous "producing, containing, bearing," from ferre "to bear" (see infer). The great coal beds of Europe were laid down during this period. As a stand-alone noun (short for Carboniferous Period) from 1940s.
chevalier (n.): late 13c., Anglo-French chivaler "mounted knight," Old French chevalier "knight, horseman, knight in chess" (12c., Modern French chevaler), from Late Latin caballarius "horseman" (source of Provençal cavallier, Spanish caballero, Portuguese cavalleiro, Italian cavaliere; see cavalier (n.)). The word formerly was nativized, but has been given a French pronunciation since 16c.
chromato-: before vowels chromat-, word forming element indicating "color; chromatin," from Latinized form of Greek khromato-, from khroma (see chroma).
couth (adj.): Old English cuðe "known," past participle of cunnan (see can (v.1)), from Proto-Germanic *kunthaz (cognates: Old Frisian kuth "known," Old Saxon cuth, Old High German kund, German kund, Gothic kunþs "known").

Died out as such 16c. with the emergence of could, but the old word was reborn 1896, with a new sense of "cultured, refined," as a back-formation from uncouth (q.v.). The Old English word forms the first element in the man's proper name Cuthbert, literally "famous-bright."
cyber: as an element in word formation, ultimately from cybernetics (q.v.). It enjoyed explosive use with the rise of the Internet early 1990s. One researcher (Nagel) counted 104 words formed from it by 1994. Cyberpunk (by 1986) and cyberspace were among the earliest.
Cyber is such a perfect prefix. Because nobody has any idea what it means, it can be grafted onto any old word to make it seem new, cool -- and therefore strange, spooky. ["New York" magazine, Dec. 23, 1996]
As a stand-alone, it is attested by 1998 as short for cybersex (which is attested by 1995).
Euro-: before vowels Eur-, word forming element meaning "Europe, European," from comb. form of Europe.
facsimile (n.): "exact copy," 1690s, two words, from Latin fac simile "make similar," from fac imperative of facere "to make" (see factitious) + simile, neuter of similis "like, similar" (see similar). One-word form predominated in 20c. As an adjective from 1877
initialism (n.): word formed from the first letters of other words or a phrase, 1957, from initial (n.) + -ism. The distinction from acronym is not universally agreed-upon; in general, words such as NATO, where the letters form a word, are regarded as acronyms, those such as FBI, where the letters sound as letters, are initialisms. The use of acronym in entries in this dictionary that are technically initialisms is a deliberate error, because many people only know to search for all such words under "acronym."
leastways: 1825, colloquial, from least + way (n.). Regarded as vulgar, but simply a one-word form of Chaucer's leest weye (late 14c.).
madman (n.): early 14c., mad man, from mad (adj.) + man (n.). One-word form attested from c. 1400, prevalent from 16c.
mosaic (n.): c. 1400, from Old French mosaicq "mosaic work," from Italian mosaico, from Medieval Latin musaicum "mosaic work, work of the Muses," noun use of neuter of musaicus "of the Muses," from Latin Musa (see muse). Medieval mosaics were often dedicated to the Muses. The word formed in Medieval Latin as though from Greek, but the (late) Greek word for "mosaic work" was mouseion (Klein says this sense was borrowed from Latin). Figurative use is from 1640s. As an adjective in English from 1580s. Related: Mosaicist.
motor-: element used extensively in 20c. word formation to indicate motorcar.
mutt (n.): 1901, "stupid or foolish person," probably a shortening of muttonhead (1803) in the same sense; see mutton and compare meathead, etc. Mutt was used by 1898 of a dog, especially a stupid one, and perhaps this is the same word formed independently (muttonhead also was used of stupid animals), or else a separate word of unknown derivation. Wright's "English Dialect Dictionary" (1900) has "Mutton! used in scolding a dog, prob. in allusion to the offence of sheep-worrying."
"That dog ain't no mutt," McManus would say as he stood behind the bar opening oysters; "no an he ain't no rube! Say! he's in it all the time when Charley trims the steaks." [Robert W. Chambers, "The Haunts of Men," 1898]
Used by 1910 in dog fancier publications to refer to a non-purebred animal.
-nik: as in beatnik, etc., suffix used in word formation from c. 1945, from Yiddish -nik (as in nudnik "a bore"), from Russian -nik, common personal suffix meaning "person or thing associated with or involved in" (compare nudnik; kolkhoznik "member of a kolkhoz"). Rocketed to popularity with sputnik (q.v.).
nearby: "close at hand," late 14c. (one-word form from 15c.), from near + by.
nother: word formed from misdivision of another as a nother (see N for other examples), c. 1300. From 14c.-16c. no nother is sometimes encountered as a misdivision of none other or perhaps as an emphatic negative; Old English had noðer as a contraction of ne oðer "no other."
-oholic: word-forming element abstracted from alcoholic (q.v.); also see -aholic, which has tended to replace it in word formation.
ocelot (n.): "large wildcat of Central and South America," 1775, from French ocelot, a word formed by French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), from Nahuatl (Aztecan) ocelotl "jaguar" (in full tlalocelotl, a compound formed with tlalli "field").
Panavision (n.): 1955, proprietary name of a type of wide-screen lens, word formed from elements of panorama + vision.
piecemeal (adv.): c. 1300 (originally two words), from piece (n.) + Old English mælum "at a time," dative plural of mæl "appointed time, food served" (see meal (n.1)). The second element once was more commonly used, as in Old English styccemælum "bit by bit," gearmælum "year by year." One-word form from 15c.
piezo-: word-forming element meaning "pressure," from comb. form of Greek piezein "to press tight, squeeze," from PIE *pi-sed-yo- "to sit upon" (cognates: Sanskrit pidayati "presses, oppresses"), from *pi "on," short for *epi (see epi-) + *sed- (1) "to sit" (see sedentary). First in piezometer (1820); in common use in word formation from c. 1900.
self-: word forming element indicating "oneself," also "automatic," from Old English use of self (pron.) in compounds, such as selfbana "suicide," selflice "self-love, pride, vanity, egotism," selfwill "free will."
soulmate (n.): 1822 (as soul mate), first attested in Coleridge, from soul (n.1) + mate (n.). One-word form is from early 20c.
spittoon (n.): also spitoon, 1811, American English, from spit (n.1) + -oon. A rare instance of a word formed in English using this suffix (octoroon is another). Replaced earlier spitting box (1680s).
stand (n.): Old English stand "a pause, delay, state of rest or inaction," from the root of stand (v.). Compare Dutch and German stand (n.). Sense of "action of standing or coming to a position" is attested from late 14c., especially in reference to fighting (1590s). Sense of "state of being unable to proceed" is from 1590s.

Meaning "place of standing, position" is from early 14c.; figurative sense is from 1590s. Meaning "raised platform for a hunter or sportsman" is attested from c. 1400. Meaning "raised platform for spectators at an open-air event" is from 1610s; meaning "piece of furniture on which something is to be set" is from 1690s. Sense of "stall or booth" is first recorded c. 1500. Military meaning "complete set" (of arms, colors, etc.) is from 1721, often a collective singular. Sense of "standing growth" (usually of of trees) is 1868, American English. Theatrical sense of "each stop made on a performance tour" is from 1896. The word formerly also was slang for "an erection" (1867).
sylvan (adj.): "of the woods," 1570s, from Middle French sylvain (1530s), from Latin silvanus "pertaining to wood or forest" (originally only in silvanae "goddesses of the woods"), from silva "wood, woodland, forest, orchard, grove," of unknown origin. The unetymological -y- is a misspelling in Latin from influence of Greek hyle "forest," from which the Latin word formerly was supposed to derive.
tangelo (n.): "hybrid of a tangerine and a pomelo," 1904, the word formed like the fruit.
teetotal (v.): "pledged to total abstinence from intoxicating drink," 1834, possibly formed from total (adj.) with a reduplication of the initial T- for emphasis (T-totally "totally," though not in an abstinence sense, is recorded in Kentucky dialect from 1832 and is possibly older in Irish-English).

The use in temperance jargon was first noted September 1833 in a speech advocating total abstinence (from beer as well as wine and liquor) by Richard "Dicky" Turner, a working-man from Preston, England. Also said to have been introduced in 1827 in a New York temperance society which recorded a T after the signature of those who had pledged total abstinence, but contemporary evidence for this is wanting, and while Century Dictionary allows that "the word may have originated independently in the two countries," OED favors the British origin and ones that Webster (1847) calls teetotaler "a cant word formed in England."
-ville: suffix sporadically in vogue since c. 1840 in U.S. colloquial word formation (such as dullsville, palookaville), abstracted from the -ville in place names (Louisville, Greenville, etc.), from Old French ville "town," from Latin villa (see villa).
worthwhile (adj.): by 1660s, worth while (one-word form from late 19c.), from worth (adj.) + while (n.). Phrase worth the while is attested from late 14c.
xylo-: before vowels xyl-, word forming element meaning "wood," from comb. form of Greek xylon "wood cut and ready for use, firewood, timber; piece of wood; stocks, a plank, beam, or bench," in New Testament, "the Cross," of unknown origin.