英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

colorless (adj.)[colorless 词源字典]: late 14c., from color (n.) + -less. Figurative sense of "lacking vividness" is recorded from 1861. Related: Colorlessness.[colorless etymology, colorless origin, 英语词源]
expression (n.): early 15c., "action of pressing out;" later "action of manifesting a feeling" (mid-15c.); "a putting into words" (late 15c.); from Middle French expression (14c.), from Late Latin expressionem (nominative expressio) "expression, vividness," in classical Latin "a pressing out, a projection," noun of action from past participle stem of exprimere "represent, describe," literally "press out" (see express (v.)). Meaning "an action or creation that expresses feelings" is from 1620s. Of the face, from 1774. Occasionally the word also was used literally, for "the action of squeezing out." Related: Expressional.
slang (n.): 1756, "special vocabulary of tramps or thieves," later "jargon of a particular profession" (1801), of uncertain origin, the usual guess being that it is from a Scandinavian source, such as Norwegian slengenamn "nickname," slengja kjeften "to abuse with words," literally "to sling the jaw," related to Old Norse slyngva "to sling." But OED, while admitting "some approximation in sense," discounts this connection based on "date and early associations." Liberman also denies it, as well as any connection with French langue (or language or lingo). Rather, he derives it elaborately from an old slang word meaning "narrow piece of land," itself of obscure origin. Century Dictionary says "there is no evidence to establish a Gipsy origin." Sense of "very informal language characterized by vividness and novelty" first recorded 1818.
[S]lang is a conscious offence against some conventional standard of propriety. A mere vulgarism is not slang, except when it is purposely adopted, and acquires an artificial currency, among some class of persons to whom it is not native. The other distinctive feature of slang is that it is neither part of the ordinary language, nor an attempt to supply its deficiencies. The slang word is a deliberate substitute for a word of the vernacular, just as the characters of a cipher are substitutes for the letters of the alphabet, or as a nickname is a substitute for a personal name. [Henry Bradley, from "Slang," in "Encyclopedia Britannica," 11th ed.]
A word that ought to have survived is slangwhanger (1807, American English) "noisy or abusive talker or writer."
vivid (adj.): 1630s, from French vivide and perhaps also directly from Latin vividus "spirited, animated, lively, full of life," from vivus "alive," from PIE *gweie- (1) "to live" (see bio-). Extension to colors is from 1660s. Sense of "strong, distinct" (as of memories, etc.) is from 1680s; that of "very active or intense" (as of imagination, interest, etc.) is from 1853. Related: Vividly; vividness.