英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

amoral (adj.)[amoral 词源字典]: "ethically indifferent," 1882, a hybrid formed from Greek privative prefix a- "not" (see a- (3)) + moral, which is derived from Latin. First used by Robert Louis Stephenson (1850-1894) as a differentiation from immoral.[amoral etymology, amoral origin, 英语词源]
amoretto (n.): 1590s, from Italian, literally "little love," a diminutive of amore "love" (see Amy). This word was variously applied to love sonnets, cupids, etc. Also compare Amaretto.
amorous (adj.): c. 1300, from Old French amorous (Modern French amoureux), from Late Latin amorosum, from amor "love," from amare "to love" (see Amy). Related: Amorously; amorousness.
amorphous (adj.): "shapeless," 1731, from Modern Latin amorphus, from Greek amorphos "without form, shapeless, deformed," from a- "without" (see a- (3)) + morphe "form" (see Morpheus). Related: Amorphously; amorphousness.
amortisation (n.): chiefly British English spelling of amortization; see -ize.
amortise (v.): chiefly British English spelling of amortize; for suffix, see -ize. Related: Amortised; amortising.
amortization (n.): 1670s, in reference to lands given to religious orders, from Medieval Latin amortizationem (nominative amortizatio), noun of action from past participle stem of amortizare (see amortize). Of debts, from 1824.
amortize (v.): late 14c., from Old French amortiss-, present participle stem of amortir "deaden," from Vulgar Latin *admortire "to extinguish," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + mortus "dead," from Latin mors "death" (see mortal (adj.)). Originally a legal term for an act of alienating lands. Meaning "extinguish a debt" (in form amortization) is attested from 1824. Related: Amortized; amortizing.
Amos: masc. proper name; third of the prophets in the Old Testament; from Greek, from Hebrew Amos, literally "borne (by God)."
amount (n.): 1710, from amount (v.).
amount (v.): late 13c., "to go up, rise, mount (a horse)," from Old French amonter, from a mont "upward," literally "to the mountain," from Latin ad- "to" (see ad-) + montem (nominative mons) "mountain" (see mount (n.)). Meaning "to rise in number or quality (so as to reach)" is from c. 1300. Related: Amounted; amounting.
amour (n.): c. 1300, "love," from Old French amour, from Latin amorem (nominative amor) "love, affection, strong friendly feeling" (it could be used of sons or brothers, but especially of sexual love), from amare "to love" (see Amy). The accent shifted 15c.-17c. to the first syllable as the word became nativized, then shifted back as the naughty or intriguing sense became primary and the word was felt to be a euphemism.
A common ME word for love, later accented ámour (cf. enamour). Now with suggestion of intrigue and treated as a F[rench] word. [Weekley]
amour-propre (n.): 1775, French, "sensitive self-love, self-esteem;" see amour and proper.
Vanity usually gives the meaning as well, &, if as well, then better. [Fowler]
The term was in Middle English as proper love "self-love."
amoxycillin (n.): 1971, contracted from amino- + oxy- + ending from penicillin.
Amoy: old name for the island of southeastern China, now known as Xiamen. From 1851 as the name of a dialect of Chinese.
amp (n.): 1886 as an abbreviation of ampere; 1967 as an abbreviation of amplifier.
amperage (n.): strength of an electric current, 1889, from ampere on model of voltage.
ampere (n.): 1881, "the current that one volt can send through one ohm," from French ampère, named for French physicist André-Marie Ampère (1775-1836). Shortened form amp is attested from 1886.
ampersand (n.): 1837, contraction of and per se and, meaning "(the character) '&' by itself is 'and' " (a hybrid phrase, partly in Latin, partly in English). The symbol is based on the Latin word et "and," and comes from an old Roman system of shorthand signs (ligatures), attested in Pompeiian graffiti, but not (as sometimes stated) from the Tironian Notes, which was a different form of shorthand, probably invented by Cicero's companion Marcus Tullius Tiro, which used a different symbol, something like a reversed capital gamma, to indicate et.

This Tironian symbol was maintained by some medieval scribes, including Anglo-Saxon chroniclers, who sprinkled their works with a symbol like a numeral 7 to indicate the word and. In old schoolbooks the ampersand was printed at the end of the alphabet and thus by 1880s had acquired a slang sense of "posterior, rear end, hindquarters."
amphetamine (n.): 1938, contracted from alphamethyl-phenethylamine.