quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- nest[nest 词源字典]
- nest: [OE] Etymologically, a nest is a place for ‘sitting down’. It is a very ancient word, and traces its history all the way back to Indo- European *nizdo-, a compound formed from *ni ‘down’ (source of English beneath and nether) and *sed- (ancestor of English sit). From it came English nest (a word shared by German and Dutch), and also Latin nīdus ‘nest’, source of Old French niche ‘nest’ – whence English niche [17]. Nestle [OE] was derived from nest.
=> beneath, nestle, nether, sit[nest etymology, nest origin, 英语词源] - nest (n.)
- Old English nest "bird's nest, snug retreat," also "young bird, brood," from Proto-Germanic *nistaz (cognates: Middle Low German, Middle Dutch nest, German Nest), from PIE *nizdo- (cognates: Sanskrit nidah "resting place, nest," Latin nidus "nest," Old Church Slavonic gnezdo, Old Irish net, Welsh nyth, Breton nez "nest"), probably from *ni "down" + *sed- (1) "to sit" (see sedentary).
Used since Middle English in reference to various accumulations of things (such as a nest of drawers, early 18c.). Nest egg "retirement savings" is from 1700, originally "a real or artificial egg left in a nest to induce the hen to go on laying there" (c. 1600). - nest (v.)
- Old English nistan "to build nests," from Proto-Germanic *nistijanan, from the source of nest (n.). The modern verb is perhaps a new formation in Middle English from the noun. Related: Nested; nesting.