quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- queasy (adj.)[queasy 词源字典]
- mid-15c., kyse, coysy, of uncertain origin, possibly from a Scandinavian source, such as Old Norse kveisa "boil," perhaps influenced by Anglo-French queisier, from Old French coisier "to wound, hurt, make uneasy," which seems to be from the same Germanic root as kveisa. But the history is obscure and evidences of development are wanting. Related: Queasily; queasiness.[queasy etymology, queasy origin, 英语词源]
- Quebec
- Canadian French province, from Micmac (Algonquian) /kepe:k/ "strait, narrows." Related: Quebecois (n. and adj.), from French Québecois.
- Quechua (n.)
- Indian people of Peru and surrounding regions, 1811, from Spanish, from Quechua kechua "plunderer, destroyer." Also the name of their language. Related: Quechuan.
- queen (n.)
- Old English cwen "queen, female ruler of a state, woman, wife," from Proto-Germanic *kwoeniz (cognates: Old Saxon quan "wife," Old Norse kvaen, Gothic quens), ablaut variant of *kwenon (source of quean), from PIE *gwen- "woman, wife" supposedly originally "honored woman" (cognates: Greek gyné "a woman, a wife;" Gaelic bean "woman;" Sanskrit janis "a woman," gná "wife of a god, a goddess;" Avestan jainish "wife;" Armenian kin "woman;" Old Church Slavonic zena, Old Prussian genna "woman;" Gothic qino "a woman, wife; qéns "a queen").
The original sense seems to have been "wife," specialized by Old English to "wife of a king." In Old Norse, still mostly of a wife generally, as in kvan-fang "marriage, taking of a wife," kvanlauss "unmarried, widowed," kvan-riki "the domineering of a wife." English is one of the few Indo-European languages to have a word for "queen" that is not a feminine derivative of a word for "king." The others are Scandinavian: Old Norse drottning, Danish dronning, Swedish drottning "queen," in Old Norse also "mistress," but these also are held to be ultimately from male words, such as Old Norse drottinn "master."
Used of chess piece from mid-15c. (as a verb in chess, in reference to a pawn that has reached the last rank, from 1789), of playing card from 1570s. Of bees from c. 1600 (until late 17c., they generally were thought to be kings; as in "Henry V," I.ii); queen bee in a figurative sense is from 1807. Meaning "male homosexual" (especially a feminine and ostentatious one) first certainly recorded 1924; probably here an alteration of quean, which is earlier in this sense. Queen Anne first used 1878 for "style characteristic of the time of Queen Anne of Great Britain and Ireland," who reigned 1702-14. Cincinnati, Ohio, has been the Queen City (of the West) since 1835. - queenly (adj.)
- mid-15c., from queen (n.) + -ly (1). Related: Queenliness.
- Queens
- New York City borough, named for Catherine of Braganza, queen of English King Charles II.
- Queensberry Rules
- drawn up 1867 by Sir John Sholto Douglas (1844-1900), 8th Marquis of Queensberry, to govern the sport of boxing in Great Britain.
- Queensland
- Australian state, founded 1859 and named for Queen Victoria of Great Britain.
- queer (adj.)
- c. 1500, "strange, peculiar, eccentric," from Scottish, perhaps from Low German (Brunswick dialect) queer "oblique, off-center," related to German quer "oblique, perverse, odd," from Old High German twerh "oblique," from PIE root *terkw- "to turn, twist, wind" (see thwart (adv.)).
Sense of "homosexual" first recorded 1922; the noun in this sense is 1935, from the adjective. Related: Queerly. Queer studies as an academic discipline attested from 1994. - queer (v.)
- "to spoil, ruin," 1812, from queer (adj.). Related: Queered; queering. Earlier it meant "to puzzle, ridicule, cheat" (1790). To queer the pitch (1846) is in reference to the patter of an itinerant tradesman or showman (see pitch (n.1)).
These wanderers, and those who are still seen occasionally in the back streets of the metropolis, are said to 'go a-pitching ;' the spot they select for their performance is their 'pitch,' and any interruption of their feats, such as an accident, or the interference of a policeman, is said to 'queer the pitch,'--in other words, to spoil it. [Thomas Frost, "Circus Life and Circus Celebrities," London, 1875]
- queerness (n.)
- 1680s, "strangeness," from queer (adj.) + -ness. Meaning "homosexuality" is from 1971.
- quelch (v.)
- 1650s, shortening of squelch, perhaps influenced by quench. Related: Quelched; quelching.
- quell (v.)
- Old English cwellan "to kill, murder, execute," from Proto-Germanic *kwaljanan (cognates: Old English cwelan "to die," cwalu "violent death;" Old Saxon quellian "to torture, kill;" Old Norse kvelja "to torment;" Middle Dutch quelen "to vex, tease, torment;" Old High German quellan "to suffer pain," German quälen "to torment, torture"), from PIE root *gwele- (1) "to throw, reach," with extended sense of "to pierce" (cognates: Armenian kelem "I torture;" Old Church Slavonic zali "pain;" Lithuanian galas "end," gela "agony," gelti "to sting;" see ballistics). Milder sense of "suppress, extinguish" developed by c. 1300. Related: Quelled; quelling.
- queller (n.)
- Old English cwellere "killer," agent noun from cwellan (see quell).
- quench (v.)
- Old English acwencan "to quench" (of fire, light), from Proto-Germanic *kwankjan, probably a causative form of root of Old English cwincan "to go out, be extinguished," Old Frisian kwinka. Related: Quenched; quenching.
- Quentin
- masc. proper name, from French, from Latin Quin(c)tianus, from quintus "the fifth." Roman children in large families often were named for their birth order (compare Sextius; also see Octavian). "[P]opular in France from the cult of St Quentin of Amiens, and brought to England by the Normans" ["Dictionary of English Surnames"], but the popular English form as a surname was Quinton.
- Quercus (n.)
- Latin quercus "oak," from PIE *kwerkwu-, assimilated form of *perkwu- "oak" (see fir).
- querent (n.)
- 1590s, originally in astrology, from Latin quaerentem, present participle of quaerere (see query (v.)).
- quern (n.)
- Old English cweorn "hand-mill, mill," from PIE *gwere-na- "millstone" (cognates: Old Norse kvern, Old Frisian quern, Old High German quirn, Gothic quirnus; Sanskrit grava "crushing stone;" Lithuanian girna "millstone," girnos "hand mills;" Old Church Slavonic zrunuvi "mills;" Welsh brevan "hand mill"), suffixed form of root *gwere- (2) "heavy" (see grave (adj.)).
- querulous (adj.)
- c. 1400, from Old French querelos "quarrelsome, argumentative" and directly from Late Latin querulosus, from Latin querulus "full of complaints, complaining," from queri "to complain." Retains the original vowel of quarrel (n.1). Related: Querulously; querulousness.