英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

azalea [azalea 词源字典]: azalea: see arid
[azalea etymology, azalea origin, 英语词源]
azimuth: azimuth: see zenith
azure: azure: [14] Azure is of Persian origin. It comes ultimately from Persian lāzhuward, source also of the lazuli in lapis lazuli, a blue semiprecious stone (and azure originally meant ‘lapis lazuli’ in English). The Arabs borrowed the Persian term as (with the definite article al) allazward, which passed into Old Spanish as azur or azul. Old French borrowed azur and handed it on to English.
=> lapis lazuli
a (1): indefinite article, mid-12c., a variation of Old English an (see an) in which the -n- began to disappear before consonants, a process mostly complete by mid-14c. The -n- also was retained before words beginning with a sounded -h- until c. 1600; it still is retained by many writers before unaccented syllables in h- or (e)u-, but is now no longer normally spoken as such. The -n- also lingered (especially in southern England dialect) before -w- and -y- through 15c.
a (2): as in twice a day, etc., from Old English an "on," in this case "on each." The sense was extended from time to measure, price, place, etc. The habit of tacking a onto a gerund (as in a-hunting we will go) died out 18c.
a capella: 1876, earlier alla capella (1847), from Italian, "in the manner of the chapel," literally "according to the chapel," from cappella "chapel" (see chapel). Originally in reference to older church music (pre-1600) which was written for unaccompanied voices; applied 20c. to unaccompanied vocal music generally.
a deux: French, à deux, literally "for two" (see deuce).
a la: from French à la, "in the manner of;" used in English in French terms from fashion or cookery since late 16c.; used in native formations with English words or names from c. 1800 (first attested in Jane Austen).
a la carte: 1826, from French à la carte, literally "by the card" (see card (n.1)); in other words, "ordered by separate items." Distinguished from a table d'hôte, meal served at a fixed, inclusive price.
a la mode: 1640s, from French à la mode (15c.), literally "in the fashion" (see mode (n.2)). In 17c., sometimes nativized as all-a-mode. Cookery sense of a dessert served with ice cream is 1903, American English.
a posteriori: Latin, literally "from what comes after" (see posterior).
a priori: 1710, "from cause to effect" (a logical term, in reference to reasoning), Latin, literally "from what comes first," from priori, ablative of prior "first" (see prior (adj.)). Used loosely for "in accordance with previous knowledge" (1834).
A&P: U.S. grocery chain, originally The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, founded 1859 by George Huntington Hartford and George Gilman.
a- (1): in native (derived from Old English) words, it most commonly represents Old English an "on" (see a (2)), as in alive, asleep, abroad, afoot, etc., forming adjectives and adverbs from nouns; but it also can be Middle English of, as in anew, abreast (1590s); or a reduced form of Old English past participle prefix ge-, as in aware; or the Old English intensive a-, as in arise, awake, ashame, marking a verb as momentary, a single event. In words from Romanic languages, often it represents Latin ad- "to, at."
[I]t naturally happened that all these a- prefixes were at length confusedly lumped together in idea, and the resultant a- looked upon as vaguely intensive, rhetorical, euphonic, or even archaic, and wholly otiose. [OED]
a- (2): prefix meaning "not," from Latin a-, short for ab "away from" (as in avert); see ab-.
a- (3): prefix meaning "not," from Greek a-, an- "not," from PIE root *ne "not" (see un-).
A-1: in figurative sense of "first-rate," 1837, in Dickens; from Lloyd's of London designation for ships in first-class condition (with the letter referring to the condition of the ship and the number to that of the stores).
A-frame: type of framework shaped like the letter "A," 1909; as a type of building construction from 1932.
A-line (adj.): descriptive of a dress or skirt flared in shape of a letter "A," 1955, in reference to the designs of Christian Dior (1905-1957).
A-list (adj.): in celebrity sense, 1984, from A in the sense of "first, best" (as in A-1) + list (n.).