英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

bidirectional (adj.)[bidirectional 词源字典]: also bi-directional, 1941, from bi- + direction + -al (1). Originally of microphones. Related: Bidirectionally.[bidirectional etymology, bidirectional origin, 英语词源]
Biedermeier: 1854, from German, from Gottlieb Biedermeier, name of a fictitious writer of stodgy poems (invented by Ludwig Eichrodt as a satire on bourgeois taste); the name applied to styles prevalent in Germany 1815-48; also "conventional, bourgeois."
biennial (adj.): "lasting for two years" (1620s); "occurring every two years" (1750), from Latin biennium "two-year period," from bi- (see bi-) + annus "year" (see annual). The vowel change is "due to the Latin phonetic law according to which the unaccented and closed radical syllable of the second element of compounds, original -ă- becomes -ĕ-" [Klein]. The noun meaning "a biennial plant" is attested by 1770.
biennium (n.): "space of two years," by 1851, from Latin biennium "two years, a period of two years," from bi- + annus "year" (see annual). For vowel change, see biennial.
bier (n.): Old English bær (West Saxon), ber (Anglian) "handbarrow, litter, bed," from West Germanic *bero (cognates: Old Saxon, Old High German bara, Old Frisian bere, Middle Dutch bare, Dutch baar, German Bahre "bier"), from PIE root *bher- (1) "to carry; to bear children," and thus related to the Old English verb beran "to bear" (see bear (v.)), making a bier etymologically anything used for carrying, only later limited to funerary sense. Since c. 1600, spelling influenced by French bière, from Old French biere, from Frankish *bera, from the same Germanic root.
bifarious (adj.): 1650s, from Latin bifarius "twofold, double," probably originally "that which can be expressed in two ways" [Klein], from bi- (see bi-) + fari "to speak, say," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say" (see fame (n.)). Related: Bifariously.
biff (v.): "to hit," 1877, imitative (as a sound effect, from 1847). Related: Biffed; biffing. As a noun, attested from 1881.
bifid (adj.): "split in two equal parts," 1660s, from Latin bifidus "split into two parts," from bi- (see bi-) + stem of findere "to split" (see fissure).
bifocal (adj.): "having two foci," 1844, from bi- + focal.
bifocals (n.): "bifocal spectacles," 1899, see bifocal. Conceived by Benjamin Franklin, but called by him double spectacles.
bifoliate (adj.): "having two leaves," 1817, from bi- + foliate.
bifurcate (v.): 1610s, from Medieval Latin bifurcatus, from Latin bi- (see bi-) + furca, the root of fork. Related: Bifurcated; bifurcating.
bifurcate (adj.): 1835, from Medieval Latin bifurcatus, from Latin bi- (see bi-) + furca, the root of fork (n.).
bifurcation (n.): 1610s, "the point at which something splits in two," noun of action from bifurcate (v.). Meaning "division into two forks" is from 1640s.
big (adj.): c. 1300, northern England dialect, "powerful, strong," of obscure origin, possibly from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian dialectal bugge "great man"). Old English used micel in many of the same senses. Meaning "of great size" is late 14c.; that of "grown up" is attested from 1550s. Sense of "important" is from 1570s. Meaning "generous" is U.S. colloquial by 1913.

Big band as a musical style is from 1926. Slang big head "conceit" is first recorded 1850. Big business "large commercial firms collectively" is 1905; big house "penitentiary" is U.S. underworld slang first attested 1915 (in London, "a workhouse," 1851). In financial journalism, big ticket items so called from 1956. Big lie is from Hitler's grosse Lüge.
Big Apple: "New York," 1909 (but popularized by 1970s tourism promotion campaign), apparently from jazz musicians' use of apple for any city, especially a Northern one.
big bang: hypothetical explosive beginning of the universe, developed from the work of Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître and George Gamow, the name first attested 1950 (said to have been used orally in 1949) by British astronomer Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) in an attempt to explain the idea in laymen's terms.
Big Ben: clock in the Parliament tower in London, generally said to have been named for Sir Benjamin Hall (1802-1867), first Chief Commissioner of Works, under whose supervision the bell was cast.
Big Brother: "ubiquitous and repressive but apparently benevolent authority" first recorded 1949, from George Orwell's novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four."
big deal (n.): from mid-19c. in poker or business; as an ironic expression, popular in American English from c. 1965, perhaps a translated Yiddishism (such as a groyser kunst).