英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

cake (n.)[cake 词源字典]: early 13c., from Old Norse kaka "cake," from West Germanic *kokon- (cognates: Middle Dutch koke, Dutch koek, Old High German huohho, German Kuchen). Not now believed to be related to Latin coquere "to cook," as formerly supposed. Replaced its Old English cognate, coecel.
What man, I trow ye raue, Wolde ye bothe eate your cake and haue your cake? ["The Proverbs & Epigrams of John Heywood," 1562]
Originally (until early 15c.) "a flat, round loaf of bread." Piece of cake "something easy" is from 1936. The let them eat cake story is found in Rousseau's "Confessions," in reference to an incident c. 1740, long before Marie Antoinette, though it has been associated with her since c. 1870; it apparently was a chestnut in the French royal family that had been told of other princesses and queens before her.[cake etymology, cake origin, 英语词源]
cake (v.): c. 1600, from cake (n.). Related: Caked; caking.
caked (adj.): "thickly encrusted," 1922, past participle adjective from cake (v.).
cakewalk (n.): 1863, American English, from cake (n.) + walk (n.), probably in reference to the cake given as a prize for the fanciest steps in a procession in a Southern black custom (explained by Thornton, 1912, as, "A walking competition among negroes," in which the prize cake goes to "the couple who put on most style"). Its figurative meaning of "something easy" (1863) is recorded before the literal one (1879). As a verb, from 1909. This may also be the source of the phrase to take the cake (1847).
calabash (n.): 1590s, "dried, hollowed gourd used as a drinking cup," from Spanish calabaza, possibly from Arabic qar'a yabisa "dry gourd," from Persian kharabuz, used of various large melons; or from a pre-Roman Iberian *calapaccia.
calaboose (n.): "prison," 1792, American English, from Louisiana French calabouse, from Spanish calabozo "dungeon," probably from Vulgar Latin *calafodium, from pre-Roman *cala "protected place, den" + Latin fodere "to dig" (see fossil).
Calais: city on the French coast of the English Channel, from Gaulish Caleti, the name of a Celtic people who once lived along the shore there.
calamari (n.): 1560s, from Italian calamari, from Latin calamarius, literally "pertaining to a pen," from calamus "a writing pen," literally "reed" (see shawm). So called from the cuttlefish's pen-like internal shell and perhaps also from its being full of ink.
calamine (n.): zinc carbonate; zinc silicate, 1590s, from French calamine, from Old French calemine, chalemine (13c.), from Medieval Latin calamina, corrupted by alchemists from Latin cadmia "zinc ore," from Greek kadmeia (see cadmium). Or possibly the Medieval Latin word is from Latin calamus "reed," in reference to the mineral's shape.
calamitous (adj.): 1540s, from French calamiteux (16c.), from Latin calamitosus "causing loss, destructive," from calamitas (see calamity). Related: Calamitously; calamitousness.
calamity (n.): early 15c., from Middle French calamite (14c.), from Latin calamitatem (nominative calamitas) "damage, loss, failure; disaster, misfortune, adversity," origin obscure. Early etymologists associated it with calamus "straw" (see shawm); but it is perhaps from a lost root preserved in incolumis "uninjured," from PIE *kle-mo-, from base *kel- (1) "to strike, cut" (see holt).
calcaneus (n.): from Latin (os) calcaneum "bone of the heel," from calcem (nominative calx (1)) "heel."
calcareous (adj.): also calcarious, 1670s, from Latin calcarius "of lime," from calx (genitive calcis) "lime, limestone" (see chalk (n.)).
calcify (v.): 1785 (implied in calcified), from French calcifier, from stem of Latin calcem "lime" (see chalk (n.)) + -fy. Related: Calcifying; calcification.
calcite (n.): crystalling calcium carbonate, 1849, from German Calcit, coined by Austrian mineralogist Wilhelm Karl von Hardinger (1795-1871) from Latin calx (genitive calcis) "lime" (see chalk (n.)) + mineral suffix -ite (2) (German -it).
calcitrant (adj.): 1866, as if from Latin calcitrantem (nominative calcitrans) "kicking" (see recalcitrant). Pedantic humor; probably a back-formation.
calcium (n.): coined 1808 by English chemist Sir Humphrey Davy (1778-1829), who first succeeded in isolating it, from Latin calx (genitive calcis) "limestone" (see chalk (n.)) + metallic element ending -ium.
calculate (v.): 1560s, "to compute, to estimate by mathematical means," from Latin calculatus, past participle of calculare "to reckon, compute," from calculus (see calculus). Meaning "to plan, devise" is from 1650s. Replaced earlier calculen (mid-14c.), from Old French calculer. Related: Calculable.
calculated (adj.): 1863, "devised beforehand," past participle adjective from calculate. Earlier, "suited, apt" (1722).
calculating (adj.): 1710, "carrying out calculations," present participle adjective from calculate. Meaning "shrewdly or selfishly seeking advantage" is attested from c. 1810.