英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

tee (n.)[tee 词源字典]: in golf, 1721, back-formation from teaz (1673), taken as a plural; a Scottish word of uncertain origin. The original form was a little heap of sand. The verb meaning "place a ball on a golf tee" is recorded from 1670s; figurative sense of "to make ready" (usually with up) is recorded from 1938. Teed off in the figurative sense of "angry, annoyed" is first recorded 1953, probably as a euphemism for p(iss)ed off.[tee etymology, tee origin, 英语词源]
tee-hee: imitative of derisive tittering laughter at least since Chaucer ("The Miller's Tale").
teem (v.1): "abound, swarm, be prolific," Old English teman (Mercian), tieman (West Saxon) "beget, give birth to, bring forth, produce, propagate," from Proto-Germanic *tau(h)mjan (denominative), from PIE *deuk- "to lead" (see duke (n.)). Related to team (n.) in its now-obsolete Old English sense of "family, brood of young animals." The meaning "abound, swarm" is first recorded 1590s, on the notion of "be full of as if ready to give birth." Related: Teemed; teeming.
teem (v.2): "to flow copiously," early 14c., "to empty out" (transitive), from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse toema "to empty," from tomr "empty," cognate with Old English tom (adj.) "empty, free from." The original notion is of "to empty a vessel," thus "to pour out." Intransitive sense of "to pour, flow, stream" is from 1828. Related: Teemed; teeming.
teeming (adj.): "swarming," 1715, earlier "abundantly productive, fertile" (1590s), present participle adjective from teem (v.1).
teen (n.): "teen-aged person," 1818 (but rare before 20c.), from -teen. As an adjective meaning "of or for teen-agers," from 1947.
teenage (adj.): also teen age, teen-age; 1911, from teen + age (n.). Originally in reference to Sunday School classes. Teen-aged (adj.) is from 1922.
teenager (n.): also teen ager, teen-ager; 1922, derived noun from teenage (q.v.). The earlier word for this was teener, attested in American English from 1894, and teen had been used as a noun to mean "teen-aged person" in 1818, though this was not common before 20c.
teens (n.): 1670s (plural), "teen-age years of a person," formed from -teen taken as a separate word. As "decade of years comprising numbers ending in -teen," from 1889.
teeny (adj.): 1825, alteration of tiny; teeny-tiny attested from 1867. Alternative form teensy is attested from 1899 (teensy-weensy is from 1906). Also teenty (1844).
teeny-bopper (n.): 1966, from teen (n.) but also felt as influenced by teeny. For second element, see bop.
teeter (v.): 1843, "to seesaw," alteration of Middle English titter "move unsteadily," probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse titra "to shake, shiver, totter, tremble," from Proto-Germanic *ti-tra- (cognates: German zittern "to tremble"). Meaning "move unsteadily, be on the edge of imbalance" is from 1844. Noun teeter-totter "see-saw" is attested from 1905 (earlier simply teeter, 1855, and titter-totter in same sense is from 1520s). Totter (n.) "board swing" is recorded from late 14c.; see totter (v.).
teeth (n.): plural of tooth (n.). In reference to laws, contracts, etc., "power of enforcement," from 1925. To be armed to the teeth is from late 14c.
teethe (v.): early 15c., probably from an unrecorded Old English verb *teþan, from toþ (see tooth). Related: Teethed; teething.
teething (n.): 1724, verbal noun from teethe (v.). Teething-ring attested from 1853.
teetotal (v.): "pledged to total abstinence from intoxicating drink," 1834, possibly formed from total (adj.) with a reduplication of the initial T- for emphasis (T-totally "totally," though not in an abstinence sense, is recorded in Kentucky dialect from 1832 and is possibly older in Irish-English).

The use in temperance jargon was first noted September 1833 in a speech advocating total abstinence (from beer as well as wine and liquor) by Richard "Dicky" Turner, a working-man from Preston, England. Also said to have been introduced in 1827 in a New York temperance society which recorded a T after the signature of those who had pledged total abstinence, but contemporary evidence for this is wanting, and while Century Dictionary allows that "the word may have originated independently in the two countries," OED favors the British origin and ones that Webster (1847) calls teetotaler "a cant word formed in England."
teetotaler (n.): also teetotaller, 1834, agent noun from teetotal. Related: Teetotalism.
tefillin (n.): 1610s, from Rabbinical Hebrew t'phillim, plural of t'phillah "prayer."
Teflon (n.): commercially important synthetic polymer, 1945, proprietary name registered in U.S. by du Pont, from chemical name (poly)te(tra)fl(uoroethylene) + arbitrary ending -on; popularized as a coating of non-stick pans in 1960s; metaphoric extension, especially in reference to U.S. President Ronald Reagan, is attested from an Aug. 2, 1983, speech on the floor of Congress by Pat Schroeder.
teg (n.): sheep in its second year, 1520s, of uncertain origin, perhaps from a Scandinavian source (compare Swedish tacka "ewe").