英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

Canberra [Canberra 词源字典]: capital of Australia, 1826, from Aborigine nganbirra "meeting place."[Canberra etymology, Canberra origin, 英语词源]
cancan (n.): also can-can, 1848, from French, possibly from can, a French children's word for "duck" (see canard), via some notion of "waddling" too obscure or obscene to attempt to disentangle here. Or perhaps from French cancan (16c.) "noise, disturbance," echoic of quacking.
cancel (v.): late 14c., "cross out with lines," from Anglo-French canceler, from Latin cancellare "to make resemble a lattice," which in Late Latin took on a sense "cross out something written" by marking it with crossed lines, from cancelli, plural of cancellus "lattice, grating," diminutive of cancer "crossed bars, lattice," a variant of carcer "prison" (see incarceration). Figurative use, "to nullify an obligation" is from mid-15c. Related: Canceled (also cancelled); cancelling.
cancellation (n.): also cancelation, 1530s, from Latin cancellationem (nominative cancellatio), noun of action from past participle stem of cancellare "to cancel" (see cancel). Of reservations for conveyances, hotels, etc., from 1953.
cancer (n.): Old English cancer "spreading sore, cancer" (also canceradl), from Latin cancer "a crab," later, "malignant tumor," from Greek karkinos, which, like the Modern English word, has three meanings: crab, tumor, and the zodiac constellation (late Old English), from PIE root *qarq- "to be hard" (like the shell of a crab); cognates: Sanskrit karkatah "crab," karkarah "hard;" and perhaps cognate with PIE root *qar-tu- "hard, strong," source of English hard.

Greek physicians Hippocrates and Galen, among others, noted similarity of crabs to some tumors with swollen veins. Meaning "person born under the zodiac sign of Cancer" is from 1894. The sun being in Cancer at the summer solstice, the constellation had association in Latin writers with the south and with summer heat. Cancer stick "cigarette" is from 1959.
cancerous (adj.): 1560s, from cancer + -ous.
candela (n.): unit of luminous intensity, 1950, from Latin candela (see candle).
candelabrum (n.): 1811, from Latin candelabrum, which meant "candlestick," from candela (see candle). Old English had candeltreow "candle-tree" in same sense. The word was borrowed earlier (late 14c.) from Old French as chaundelabre with the Latin sense. Candelabra is the Latin plural.
candescent (adj.): 1824, from Latin candescentem (nominative candescens), present participle of candescere "to become white, begin to gleam," inchoative of candere "to shine, to glow" (see candle).
candid (adj.): 1620s, "white," from Latin candidum "white; pure; sincere, honest, upright," from candere "to shine," from PIE root *kand- "to glow, to shine" (see candle). In English, metaphoric extension to "frank" first recorded 1670s (compare French candide "open, frank, ingenuous, sincere"). Of photography, 1929. Related: Candidly; candidness.
candidacy (n.): 1822; see candidate + -cy.
candidate (n.): c. 1600s, from Latin candidatus "one aspiring to office," originally "white-robed," past participle of candidare "to make white or bright," from candidus (see candid). Office-seekers in ancient Rome wore white togas.
candied (adj.): c. 1600, past participle adjective from candy (v.).
candle (n.): Old English candel "lamp, lantern, candle," an early ecclesiastical borrowing from Latin candela "a light, torch, candle made of tallow or wax," from candere "to shine," from PIE root *kand- "to glow, to shine, to shoot out light" (cognates: Sanskrit cand- "to give light, shine," candra- "shining, glowing, moon;" Greek kandaros "coal;" Welsh cann "white;" Middle Irish condud "fuel").

Candles were unknown in ancient Greece (where oil lamps sufficed), but common from early times among Romans and Etruscans. Candles on birthday cakes seems to have been originally a German custom. To hold a candle to originally meant "to help in a subordinate capacity," from the notion of an assistant or apprentice holding a candle for light while the master works (compare Old English taporberend "acolyte"). To burn the candle at both ends is recorded from 1730.
candlelight (n.): Old English candelleoht; from candle + light (n.).
Candlemass: Old English candelmæsse (from candle + mass (n.2)), feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary (Feb. 2), celebrated with many candles, corresponding to Celtic pagan Imbolc.
candlestick (n.): Old English candelsticca; see candle + stick (n.).
candor (n.): "openness of mind, impartiality, frankness," c. 1600, from Latin candor "purity, openness," originally "whiteness," from candere "to shine, to be white" (see candle). Borrowed earlier in English (c. 1500) with the Latin literal sense "extreme whiteness."
candour (n.): chiefly British English spelling of candor (q.v.); for spelling, see -or.
candy (n.): late 13c., "crystalized sugar," from Old French çucre candi "sugar candy," ultimately from Arabic qandi, from Persian qand "cane sugar," probably from Sanskrit khanda "piece (of sugar)," perhaps from Dravidian (compare Tamil kantu "candy," kattu "to harden, condense").