英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

twin [twin 词源字典]: twin: [OE] Twin originally meant simply ‘double’, but the specific application to ‘two people born at the same birth’ had already evolved by the end of the Old English period. The word goes back via prehistoric Germanic *twisnaz to Indo- European *dwisno-, a derivative of the base *dwi- ‘double’ (other derivatives formed with the same -n suffix include English between and twine [OE] – etymologically thread of ‘two’ strands).
=> between, twine, two[twin etymology, twin origin, 英语词源]
twist: twist: [OE] Twist appears to come ultimately from prehistoric Germanic base *twi- ‘double’, which also underlies English twice, twig, twin, etc. In Old English it is found only in compound words, denoting such things as ‘rope’ (presumably originally made from ‘two’ strands) and ‘forked objects’. It does not appear as an independent word until the 14th century, by which time its association with ‘rope’ had given it the sense ‘wrench, wind’.
=> two
twit: twit: Twit was originally, and still is, a verb, meaning ‘taunt’ [16]. It is a shortened version of the now defunct atwite. This went back to Old English ætwītan, a compound verb formed from the prefix æt-, denoting ‘opposition’, and wītan ‘reproach’. It is not altogether clear whether the noun twit ‘fool’ is the same word. There is an isolated example of what could be twit ‘fool’ recorded from the early 18th century, but it did not really begin to proliferate as a mild term of abuse until the 1950s.

Semantically, the connection is plausible – a ‘fool’ could be a ‘person who is taunted’ (presumably for being foolish) – but an alternative theory is that it is an alteration of twat [17]. This originally meant ‘cunt’, and is not recorded as a term of abuse until the 1920s. It is not known where it came from. (It was, incidentally, the object of one of the more ludicrous misapprehensions in English literature.

There is a passage in Vanity of Vanities 1660 that reads ‘They talked of his having a cardinal’s hat, they’d send him as soon an old nun’s twat’. Robert Browning took ‘twat’ as meaning some item of nun’s clothing, and so wrote in his Pippa Passes 1841 ‘Sing to the bats’ sleek sisterhoods full complines with gallantry: Then, owls and bats, cowls and twats, monks and nuns, in a cloister’s moods, adjourn to the oakstump pantry!’).
twitch: twitch: see twig
two: two: [OE] Two is an ancient word, traceable right back to Indo-European *duwo. Amongst its other descendants were Greek dúo, Latin duo (source of English deuce, double, dual, duet, duo, etc), Russian dva, and Welsh dau. In the Germanic languages, aside from English, it has evolved into German zwei, Dutch twee, Swedish två, and Danish to. Two represents the Old English feminine and neuter forms twā; the masculine twegen has become twain.
=> between, deuce, double, dual, duet, duo, twain, twelve, twenty, twice, twig, twilight, twin, twist
tycoon: tycoon: [19] Japanese taikun was a title used for the military commander or shogun of Japan, particularly by his supporters when addressing foreigners, in the attempt to convey the impression that he was more powerful and important than the emperor. For it meant literally ‘great prince, emperor’. It was borrowed from ancient Chinese t’ai kiuən ‘emperor’, a compound formed from t’ai ‘great’ and kiuən ‘prince’. English acquired it in the 1850s, and it began to be used more generally for a ‘highranking personage’ in the USA soon afterwards. The specific application to businessmen seems to have evolved after World War I.
type: type: [15] The etymological notion underlying the word type is of making an impression by ‘striking’. It comes via Latin typus from Greek túpos ‘blow, impression’, a derivative of túptein ‘hit’. In post-classical Latin the meaning ‘form, sort’ evolved (in much the same way as it did in the case of stamp). The more concrete metaphorical attachment to ‘making a mark by stamping’ had already been made in the classical period, and this eventually led in the 18th century to the use of English type for a ‘printing block with a letter on it’.
typhoid: typhoid: see stew
typhoon: typhoon: [16] A typhoon is etymologically a ‘great wind’. The word was adapted from Cantonese Chinese daai feng ‘great wind’, its form no doubt influenced by Greek Tūphón, father of the winds in Greek mythology (his name was derived from the verb túphein ‘smoke’, which also produced túphos ‘smoke’, hence ‘fever causing delusion’, source of English stew, typhoid, and typhus).
typhus: typhus: see stew
tyre: tyre: [15] The word tyre was originally used for a protective covering of metal plates put round the rim of a wooden wheel. It is thought that it was short for attire [13] (a borrowing from Old French, but ultimately of unknown origin), the notion being of ‘attiring’ the wheels in their covering. At first the word was spelled tire or tyre indiscriminately. By the 18th century tire had become the standard form, and it remains so in American English, but when rubber wheel cushions were introduced in the 19th century, British English took to spelling them tyre.
=> attire
T: to cross one's t's (and dot one's i's) "to be exact" is attested from 1849. Phrase to a T "exactly" is recorded from 1690s, though the exact signification remains uncertain despite much speculation. The measuring tool called a T-square (sometimes suggested as the source of this) is recorded by that name only from 1785. The T-cell (1970) so called because they are derived from the thymus. As a medieval numeral, T represented 160.
T and A (n.): 1972, short for tits and ass (a phrase attributed to Lenny Bruce), in reference to salacious U.S. mass media; earlier it was medical shorthand for "tonsils and adenoids" (1942).
T-bone (n.): type of steak, 1916, so called from the T-shaped bone that runs through it. The verb meaning "to strike (another car, bus, etc.) from the side" is by 1970, from adjectival use in reference to crashes, attested from 1952, from the position of the two vehicles at impact.
T-shirt (n.): 1920, in reference to the shape it makes when laid out flat (t-shirt is thus incorrect).
ta: 1772, "natural infantile sound of gratitude" [Weekley].
ta'en: contraction of taken.
ta-ta: also tata, "good-bye," familiar salutation in parting, 1823, a word first recorded as infant's speech. Abbreviation T.T.F.N., "ta-ta for now," popularized 1941 by BBC radio program "ITMA," where it was the characteristic parting of the cockney cleaning woman character Mrs. Mopp, voiced by Dorothy Summers.
tab (n.1): "small flap or strip of material," c. 1600, possibly from a dialectal word, of uncertain origin. Often interchangeable with tag (n.1). Compare also Middle English tab "strap or string" (mid-15c.), Norwegian dialectal tave "piece of cloth, rag."
tab (n.2): "account, bill, check," 1888, American English colloquial, probably a shortened form of tabulation or of tablet in the sense "a sheet for writing on." Figurative phrase keep a tab on is recorded from 1890.