ebbyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[ebb 词源字典]
ebb: [OE] Water that is ebbing is literally going ‘off’ or ‘away’. The word comes from West Germanic *abjon, a noun formed from *ab, ancestor of modern English of, off, which denoted removal or departure.
=> of, off[ebb etymology, ebb origin, 英语词源]
ebb (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
Old English ebba "falling of the tide, low tide," perhaps from Proto-Germanic *af- (cognates: Old Frisian ebba, Old Saxon ebbiunga, Middle Dutch ebbe, Dutch eb, German Ebbe), from PIE root *apo- "off, away" (see apo-). Figurative sense of "decline, decay, gradual diminution" is from late 14c. Ebb-tide is from 1776.
ebb (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
Old English ebbian "flow back, subside," from the root of ebb (n.). Figurative use in late Old English. Related: Ebbed; ebbing.