quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- fare (v.)[fare 词源字典]
- Old English faran "to journey, set forth, go, travel, wander, make one's way," also "be, happen, exist; be in a particular condition," from Proto-Germanic *faran "to go" (cognates: Old Saxon, Old High German, Gothic faran, Old Norse and Old Frisian fara, Dutch varen, German fahren), from PIE *por- "going, passage," from root *per- (2) "to lead, pass over" (see port (n.1)). Related: Fared; faring.[fare etymology, fare origin, 英语词源]
- fern (n.)
- Old English fearn "fern," from Proto-Germanic *farno- (cognates: Old Saxon farn, Middle Dutch vaern, Dutch varen, Old High German farn, German Farn).
Possibly the word has a prehistoric sense of "having feathery fronds" and is from PIE *por-no-, which has yielded words for "feather, wing" (cognates: Sanskrit parnam "feather;" Lithuanian papartis "fern;" Russian paporot'; Greek pteris "fern," pteron "feather"), from the root *per- (2) "to lead, pass over" (see petition (n.)). The plant's ability to appear as if from nothing accounts for the ancient belief that fern seeds conferred invisibility (1590s). Filicology "science or study of ferns" (1848) is from Latin filix "fern." - pollution (n.)
- mid-14c., "discharge of semen other than during sex," later, "desecration, defilement" (late 14c.), from Late Latin pollutionem (nominative pollutio) "defilement," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin polluere "to soil, defile, contaminate," from por- "before" + -luere "smear," from PIE root *leu- "dirt; make dirty" (cognates: Latin lutum "mud, mire, clay," lues "filth;" Greek lyma "filth, dirt, disgrace," lymax "rubbish, refuse;" Old Irish loth "mud, dirt;" Lithuanian lutynas "pool, puddle"). Sense of "contamination of the environment" first recorded c. 1860, but not common until c. 1955.
- pore (n.)
- "minute opening," late 14c., from Old French pore (14c.) and directly from Latin porus "a pore," from Greek poros "a pore," literally "passage, way," from PIE *por- "going, passage," from root *per- "to lead, pass over" (see port (n.1)).
- portend (v.)
- early 15c., from Latin portendere "foretell, reveal; point out, indicate," originally "to stretch forward," from por- (variant of pro-; see pro-) "forth, forward" + tendere "to stretch, extend" (see tenet). Related: Portended; portending.
- portray (v.)
- mid-13c., "to draw, paint" (something), from Anglo-French purtraire, Old French portraire "to draw, to paint, portray" (12c.), literally "trace, draw forth," from por- "forth" (from Latin pro-; see pro-) + traire "trace, draw," from Latin trahere "to drag, draw" (see tract (n.1)). Meaning "depict in words, describe" is from late 14c. Related: Portrayed; portraying.
- post (n.1)
- "a timber set upright," from Old English post "pillar, doorpost," and Old French post "post, upright beam," both from Latin postis "door, post, doorpost," perhaps from por- "forth" (see pro-) + stare "to stand," from PIE root *sta- "to stand, set down, make or be firm" (see stet). Similar compound in Sanskrit prstham "back, roof, peak," Avestan parshti "back," Greek pastas "porch in front of a house, colonnade," Middle High German virst "ridepole," Lithuanian pirstas, Old Church Slavonic pristu "finger" (PIE *por-st-i-).
- proffer (v.)
- "to offer," late 13c., from Anglo-French profrier (mid-13c.), Old French poroffrir (11c.), from por- "forth" (from Latin pro-; see pro-) + offrir "to offer," from Latin offerre (see offer (v.)). Related: Proffered; proffering. As a noun from late 14c.
- pur-
- Middle English and Anglo-French perfective prefix, corresponding to Old French por-, pur- (Modern French pour), from Vulgar Latin *por-, variation of Latin pro- "before, for" (see pro-). This is the earliest form of the prefix in English, and it is retained in some words, but in many others it has reverted to Latinate pro-.
- purloin (v.)
- mid-14c., "remove, misappropriate," from Anglo-French purloigner "remove," Old French porloigner "put off, retard, delay, drag out; be far away," from por- (from Latin pro- "forth;" see pro-) + Old French loing "far," from Latin longe, from longus (see long (adj.)). Sense of "to steal" (1540s) is a development in English. Related: Purloined; purloining.
- purpose (n.)
- c. 1300, "intention, aim, goal," from Anglo-French purpos, Old French porpos "aim, intention" (12c.), from porposer "to put forth," from por- "forth" (from Latin pro- "forth;" see pur-) + Old French poser "to put, place" (see pose (v.1)). On purpose "by design" is attested from 1580s; earlier of purpose (early 15c.).
- sparrow (n.)
- small brownish-gray bird (Passer domesticus), Old English spearwa, from Proto-Germanic *sparwan (cognates: Old Norse spörr, Old High German sparo, German Sperling, Gothic sparwa), from PIE *spor-wo-, from root *sper- (3), forming names of small birds (cognates: Cornish frau "crow;" Old Prussian spurglis "sparrow;" Greek spergoulos "small field bird," psar "starling"). In use, with qualifying words, of many small, sparrow-like birds. Sparrowfarts (1886) was Cheshire slang for "very early morning."
- spore (n.)
- "reproductive body in flowerless plants corresponding to the seeds of flowering ones," 1836, from Modern Latin spora, from Greek spora "a seed, a sowing, seed-time," related to sporas "scattered, dispersed," sporos "a sowing," and speirein "to sow, scatter," from PIE *spor-, variant of root *sper- (4) "to strew" (see sprout (v.)).
- sporo-
- before vowels spor-, word-forming element meaning "spore," from comb. form of Greek spora "a seed, a sowing," related to sporas "scattered, dispersed," sporos "sowing," and speirein "to sow," from PIE *spor-, variant of root *sper- (4) "to strew" (see sprout (v.)).
- leporine
- "Of or resembling a hare or hares", Mid 17th century: from Latin leporinus, from lepus, lepor- 'hare'.