whatyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[what 词源字典]
what: [OE] What traces its history right back to Indo-European *qwod, which also produced Latin quod ‘what’. The Germanic descendant of this was *khwat, which has evolved into German was, Dutch wat, Swedish vad, Danish hvad, and English what.
[what etymology, what origin, 英语词源]
wheatyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
wheat: [OE] Wheat is etymologically the ‘white’ grain. The word comes from prehistoric Germanic *khvaitjaz (source also of German weizen, Dutch weit, Swedish hvete, and Danish hvede), which was derived from a variant of the base *khwīt-, source of English white. It alludes to the ‘white’ flour produced by grinding the grain.
=> white
wheatearyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
wheatear: [16] The wheatear is etymologically the ‘white-arsed’ bird. The word is a backformation from an earlier wheatears, a singular form which came to be regarded as plural. And wheatears in turn was an alteration (due no doubt to confusion with wheat) of *whiteeres, a compound formed from white and arse. Like the parallel French term culblanc, it alludes to the white feathers on the bird’s rump.
=> arse, white
wheelyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
wheel: [OE] A wheel is etymologically simply something that ‘goes round’. It is a member of a large family of words that goes back to Indo- European *qweqwlo-, which was derived from *qwelo- ‘go round’. Other members include Greek kúklos ‘circle’ (source of English cycle), Sanskrit cakrá- ‘circle, wheel’ (source of English chukker), Serbo-Croat and Czech kolo ‘wheel’, and Russian koleso ‘wheel’. Its prehistoric Germanic descendant was *khwekhula, which evolved into Dutch wiel, Swedish and Danish hjul, and English wheel.
=> chukker, cycle, encyclopedia
whenyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
when: [OE] When was formed from the ancient interrogative base *qwo- (source also of English what, who, etc) and a nasal suffix which also appears in then. From the same ancestor, but with an additional dental suffix, came Latin quando ‘when’, source of English quandary.
=> quandary
whereyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
where: [OE] Where is an ancient Indo-European formation derived from the interrogative base *qwo- (source also of English what, who, etc). In Germanic (where its relatives include Dutch waar, Swedish var, Danish hvor, and the war- of German warum ‘why’) it has largely become limited in its application to ‘place’, but in other branches of the Indo-European language family it performs other interrogative functions: Latin cūr ‘why’, for instance, Welsh pyr ‘why’, and Sanskrit kárhi- ‘when’, beside Lithuanian kur ‘where’.
whetheryoudaoicibaDictYouDict
whether: [OE] Whether was formed in the prehistoric Germanic period from the interrogative base *khwa-, *khwe- (source of English what, who, etc) and the comparative suffix *-theraz, which also occurs in English other. Its Germanic relatives include German weder ‘neither’ and Swedish hvar ‘each’. English either goes back to a Germanic compound formed from the ancestors of ay and whether.
=> either, other
whichyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
which: [OE] Etymologically, which means ‘what like, of what form or sort?’ The word was formed in the prehistoric Germanic period from the interrogative base *khwa-, *khwe- (source of English what, who, etc) and *līka- ‘body, form’ (source of English like and also incorporated into English each and such). Its Germanic relatives include German welch and Dutch welk ‘which’.
=> like
WhigyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
Whig: [17] Whig appears to be short for the now obsolete Scottish term whiggamaire. This presumably originally meant ‘horse-driver’ (it is assumed to have been formed from the Scottish verb whig ‘drive’, whose origins are not known, and maire, a Scottish form of mare ‘female horse’), but its earliest recorded application was to Presbyterian supporters in Scotland. It was later adopted as a name for those who opposed the succession of the Catholic James II, and by 1689 it had established itself as the title of one of the two main British political parties, opposed to the Tories.
whileyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
while: [OE] While comes via prehistoric Germanic *khwīlō from the Indo-European base *qwi-. This denoted ‘rest’, and its meaning was carried through into Latin quiēs (source of English quiet) and tranquillus (source of English tranquil) and Swedish hvila and Danish hvile ‘repose, refreshment’. In English, however, and the other Germanic languages (German weile and Dutch wijl), the notion of ‘rest’ has passed, presumably via ‘period of rest’, to ‘period of time’. English while was first used as a conjunction in the 12th century.
=> quiet, tranquil
whinyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
whin: see gorse
whipyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
whip: [13] Whip was originally a verb, meaning ‘move quickly’. It was probably borrowed from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch wippen ‘vacillate, swing’, which in turn went back to the prehistoric Germanic base *wip- ‘move quickly’ (source also of English wipe). And *wip- itself was descended from Indo-European *wib-, from which English gets vibrate. Wafer, weave, web, etc come from variants of the same base. The application of whip to a ‘flexible implement for lashing’ is first recorded in the 14th century.
=> vibrate, weave, wipe
whiskyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
whisk: see whist
whiskyyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
whisky: [18] Whisky denotes etymologically ‘water of life’. The word is short for an earlier whiskybae, which was an alteration of usquebaugh; and this in turn was an anglicization of Gaelic uisge beatha ‘water of life’ (Gaelic uisge ‘water’ comes from the same Indo-European source as English water, and beatha ‘life’ is related to Latin vīta ‘life’ and English vital). The distinction in spelling between Scotch whisky and American and Irish whiskey goes back no further than the 19th century. French eau de vie ‘brandy’, literally ‘water of life’, is semantically identical.
=> vital, water
whisperyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
whisper: [OE] Whisper comes ultimately from the prehistoric Germanic base *khwis-, which imitated a sort of hissing sound. This also produced German wispeln and wispern ‘whisper’, and with a different suffix it gave English whistle.
=> whistle
whistyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
whist: [17] The game of whist was originally called whisk, and it is generally assumed that the name came from the ‘whisking’ away of the cards after the tricks had been taken (whisk [14] itself was borrowed from a Scandinavian source that went back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *wisk- ‘move quickly’). Charles Cotton, however, in his Complete Gamester 1680, said that it was ‘called Whist from the silence that is to be observed in the play’ (whist is also a now archaic exclamation meaning ‘be quiet!’).
whistleyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
whistle: [OE] Like whisper, whistle goes back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *khwis-, which denoted a ‘hissing’ sound. Related forms include Swedish vissla ‘whistle’ and Danish hvisle ‘hiss’.
=> whisper
whiteyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
white: [OE] White goes back ultimately to Indo- European *kwitnos or *kwidnos, which was formed from the same base as produced Sanskrit sveta- ‘white’ and Russian svet ‘light’. It passed into prehistoric Germanic as *khwītaz, which has since evolved into German weiss, Swedish vit, Danish hvid, and English white (Dutch wit comes from a variant of the same Germanic source). Wheat is etymologically the ‘white’ grain.
=> wheat, whitsun
white elephantyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
white elephant: see elephant
whitlowyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
whitlow: see flake