英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

bacterium [bacterium 词源字典]: bacterium: [19] Bacterium was coined in the 1840s from Greek baktérion, a diminutive of báktron ‘stick’, on the basis that the originally discovered bacteria were rod-shaped. At first it was sometimes anglicized to bactery, but the Latin form has prevailed. Related, but a later introduction, is bacillus [19]: this is a diminutive of Latin baculum ‘stick’, and the term was again inspired by the microorganism’s shape. Latin baculum is also responsible, via Italian bacchio and its diminutive form bacchetta, for the long French loaf, the baguette.
=> bacillus, baguette, débacle, imbecile[bacterium etymology, bacterium origin, 英语词源]
cafeteria: cafeteria: see coffee
cauterize: cauterize: see holocaust
coterie: coterie: [18] In Old French, coterie was a term for an association of peasant tenants under the feudal system. It was probably derived from an unrecorded *cote ‘hut’. This would have been borrowed from Middle Low German kote, a relative of English cote and cot. In French the word gradually broadened out in meaning to ‘group of people sharing a common interest’, the sense in which English borrowed it in the mid- 18th century.
deteriorate: deteriorate: [16] The meaning of deteriorate resides etymologically in its first syllable, which represents the Latin preposition dē ‘down’. To this was added the adjectival suffix -ter, to produce *dēter ‘bad’, and this in turn was modified with the comparative suffix -ior to dēterior ‘worse’. Dēterior formed the basis of the verb dēteriorāre ‘get worse’, source of English deteriorate.
exterior: exterior: see extra
hysteria: hysteria: [19] Greek hustérā meant ‘womb’ (it is related to Latin uterus ‘womb’). The adjective derived from it was husterikós ‘suffering in the womb’. This passed into Latin as hystericus, which formed the basis of the modern Latin noun hysteria, a term coined in the 19th century for a neurotic condition supposedly peculiar to women (in popular parlance it was called ‘the vapours’). Hysterectomy ‘surgical removal of the womb’ dates from the late 19th century.
=> uterus
material: material: [14] Etymologically, material is simply a derivative of matter. It comes via Old French materiel from late Latin māteriālis, a derivative of Latin māteria ‘matter’ (source of English matter). The modern French form of the word was reborrowed as materiel ‘military equipment’ [19].
=> material, matter
presbyterian: presbyterian: see priest
sterile: sterile: [16] Sterile is a word of ancient ancestry, which goes right back to the prehistoric Indo- European base *ster- (source also of Greek stériphos and Gothic stairō ‘infertile’). The Latin descendant of the base was sterilis, acquired by English via French stérile.
ulterior: ulterior: [17] Ulterior goes back to an unrecorded Latin *ulter ‘distant’ (a relative of ultrā ‘beyond’, source of the English prefix ultra-). Its comparative form was ulterior, which meant literally ‘more distant’. Its superlative form was ultimus, which lies behind English ultimate [17] and ultimatum [18] (etymologically the ‘farthest’ or last point).
=> ultimate, ultimatum
a posteriori: Latin, literally "from what comes after" (see posterior).
ambidexterity (n.): 1650s, from obsolete adjective ambidexter "two-sided, using both hands with equal facility," also "double-dealing," from Medieval Latin ambidexter (see ambidextrous) + -ity.
amphoteric (adj.): "neither acid nor alkaline," 1832, from Greek amphoteros "each or both of two," variant of amphi-.
anterior (adj.): 1610s, Latin, literally "former," comparative of ante "before" (see ante). Related: Anteriority.
anti-bacterial (adj.): also antibacterial, 1875, from anti- + bacterial.
apodyterium (n.): 1690s, from Latin apodyterium "undressing room" (in a bath house), from Greek apodyterion "undressing room," from apodyein "to put off, undress," from apo- "off" (see apo-) + dyein "to put on, enter, go in."
archaebacteria (n.): plural of archaebacterium (1977), from archaeo- + bacterium (see bacteria).
arterial (adj.): early 15c., from French artérial (Modern French artériel), from Latin arteria; see artery.
arterio-: word-forming element meaning "arterial," from Latinized comb. form of Greek arteria "windpipe; artery" (see artery).
arteriole (n.): "small artery," by 1808, from Modern Latin arteriola, diminutive of arteria (see artery).
arteriosclerosis (n.): "hardening of the arteries," 1885, medical Latin, from arterio- + sclerosis.
aspheterism (n.): doctrine that there ought to be no private property, 1794, from Greek a- "not," privative prefix (see a- (3)), + spheteros "one's own," from sphetrisomos "appropriation."
asterisk (n.): "figure used in printing and writing to indicate footnote, omission, etc.," late 14c., asterich, asterisc, from Late Latin asteriscus, from Greek asterikos "little star," diminutive of aster "star" (see astro-). As a verb from 1733.
asterism (n.): 1590s, "a constellation, a group of stars," from Greek asterismos "a marking with stars," from aster "star" (see astro-). Any grouping of stars, whether a constellation or not (though in modern use, usually the latter). The "Big Dipper" is an asterism, not a constellation.
austerity (n.): mid-14c., "sternness, harshness," from Old French austerite "harshness, cruelty" (14c.) and directly from Late Latin austeritatem (nominative austeritas), from austerus (see austere). Of severe self-discipline, from 1580s; hence "severe simplicity" (1875); applied during World War II to national policies limiting non-essentials as a wartime economy.
bacteria (n.): 1847, plural of Modern Latin bacterium, from Greek bakterion "small staff," diminutive of baktron "stick, rod," from PIE *bak- "staff used for support" (also source of Latin baculum "rod, walking stick"). So called because the first ones observed were rod-shaped. Introduced as a scientific word 1838 by German naturalist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795-1876).
bacterial (adj.): 1869, from bacteria + -al (1).
bacteriology (n.): 1884, from German; see bacteria + -ology. Related: Bacteriological (1886). Bacteriological warfare is from 1924.
bacteriophage (n.): 1921, from French bactériophage (1917), from bacterio-, comb. form of bacteria, + -phage.
bacterium (n.): c. 1848, singular of bacteria (q.v.).
cafeteria (n.): 1839, American English, from Mexican Spanish cafeteria "coffee store," from café "coffee" (see coffee) + Spanish -tería "place where something is done" (usually business). The ending came to be understood popularly as meaning "help-yourself" (as though café + -teria) and was extended to new formation with that sense from c. 1923.
cauterization (n.): c. 1400, from Old French cauterisation (14c.) and directly from Late Latin cauterizationem (nominative cauterizatio), noun of action from past participle stem of cauterizare (see cauterize).
cauterize (v.): c. 1400, from Old French cauterisier, from Late Latin cauterizare "to burn or brand with a hot iron," from Greek kauteriazein, from kauter "burning or branding iron," from kaiein "to burn" (see caustic). Related: Cauterized; cauterizing.
ceteris paribus: Modern Latin, literally "other things being equal."
characterisation (n.): chiefly British English spelling of characterization; for spelling, see -ize.
characterise (v.): chiefly British English spelling of characterize; for suffix, see -ize. Related: Characterised; characterising.
characteristic: adjective and noun both first attested 1660s, from character + -istic on model of Greek kharakteristikos. Earlier in the adjectival sense was characteristical (1620s). Related: Characteristically (1640s). Characteristics "distinctive traits" also attested from 1660s.
characterization (n.): 1560s, "marking out of a precise form;" see characterize + -ation. Meaning "description of essential features" is from 1814.
characterize (v.): 1590s, "to engrave, write," back-formation from characterization, or else from Medieval Latin characterizare, from Greek kharakterizein "to designate by a characteristic mark," from kharakter (see character). Meaning "to describe the qualities of" is recorded from 1630s; that of "to be characteristic" is from 1744. Related: Characterized; characterizing.
charcuterie (n.): 1858, from French charcuterie, literally "pork-butcher's shop," from charcuter (16c.), from obsolete char (Modern French chair) cuite "cooked flesh," from chair "meat" (Old French char, from Latin carnem; see carnage) + cuit, past participle of cuire "to cook." Compare French charcutier "pork butcher; meat roaster, seller of cooked (not raw) meat."
climacteric: c. 1600 (adj.), 1620s (n.), from Latin climactericus, from Greek klimakterikos "of a critical period," from klimakter "rung of a ladder" (see climax (n.)). A critical stage in human life, a period supposed to be especially liable to change. By some, held to be the years that are multiples of 7 (7, 14, 21, etc.), by others only the odd multiples (7, 21, 35, etc.), and by still others the multiples of 9. The Great Climacteric was the 63rd year (7x9), supposed to be especially critical.
coterie (n.): 1738, from French coterie "circle of acquaintances," originally in Middle French an organization of peasants holding land from a feudal lord (14c.), from cotier "tenant of a cote" (see cottage).
counterinsurgency (n.): 1962, from counter- + insurgency.
counterintelligence (n.): also counter-intelligence, 1940, from counter- + intelligence.
counterintuitive (adj.): also counter-intuitive, 1955, from counter- + intuitive.
criteria (n.): 1620s, plural of criterion (q.v.).
criterion (n.): 1660s, from Latinized form of Greek kriterion "means for judging, standard," from krites "judge," from PIE root *krei- (see crisis). Used in English as a Greek word from 1610s.
deleterious (adj.): 1640s, from Medieval Latin deleterius, from Greek deleterios "noxious," from deleter "destroyer," from deleisthai "to hurt, injure." Related: Deleteriously; deleteriousness.
dematerialize (v.): 1884; see de- + materialize. Related: Dematerialized; dematerializing.