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cycle [cycle 词源字典]: cycle: [14] Cycle is one of a wide range of English words (including pole, colony, and cult) which go back ultimately to the Indo-European base *qwel-, *qwol-, which signified ‘move around’. Its reduplicated form, *qweqwlo-, produced English wheel, Sanskrit cakrá- ‘wheel, circle’ (ultimate source of the polo term chukker [19]), and Greek kúklos ‘circle’.

English acquired this via French cycle or late Latin cyclus. Its use as a cover term for bicycles, tricycles, etc (of which words in this context it is an abbreviation) dates from the late 19th century. Related forms in English include cyclone ‘mass of rapidly circulating wind’ [19] (probably a modification of Greek kúklōma), cyclamen [16] (so named from its bulbous roots), and encyclopedia. _ BICYCLE, CHUKKER, COLONY, CULT, ENCYCLOPEDIA, POLE, WHEEL.
[cycle etymology, cycle origin, 英语词源]
cygnet: cygnet: [15] A cygnet is literally a ‘small swan’. The late Old French term for ‘swan’ was cigne, and this was modified with the diminutive suffix -et, probably in Anglo-Norman, to produce *cignet, the source of the English word. Cigne, precursor of modern French cygne, strikes a familiar chord, but in fact its Latin source, cygnus, is a comparatively late development. The standard classical Latin word for ‘swan’ was cycnus, from Greek kúknos, which produced in early Old French cisne. A trace of it survives in Spanish cisne ‘swan’.
cymbal: cymbal: [14] The notion underlying cymbal is of a ‘hollow vessel’. Greek kúmbē meant ‘cup, bowl’. From it was derived kúmbalon, which passed via Latin cymbalum into Old French as cimbal ‘metal plate struck to make a noise’. This did not survive much beyond the 10th century (although it may have given rise before its demise to chime), but the word was reborrowed via Old French symbale in the 14th century.
=> chime
cynic: cynic: [16] Originally, the Cynics were a group of ascetic philosophers in ancient Greece. Their founder, around 400 BC, was Antisthenes, a follower of Socrates. They advocated the view that virtue and self-control are the highest good and, particularly under their later leader Diogenes, came to exhibit a contempt for the frailties of their fellow human beings that is traditionally said to have earned them their name: Greek kúōn meant ‘dog’ (it is related to English hound), and the philosophers were allegedly dubbed kunikós on account of their ‘dog-like’ sneering.

A more prosaic but more likely explanation of the term is that it comes from the Kunósarge, the gymnasium where Antisthenes taught (perhaps later influenced by kúōn). English acquired the word via Latin cynicus.
C: third letter of the alphabet. Alphabetic writing came to Rome via the southern Etruscan "Caeretan" script, in which gamma was written as a crescent. Early Romans made little use of Greek kappa and used gamma for both the "g" and "k" sounds, the latter more frequently, so that the "k" sound came to be seen as the proper one for gamma. To restore a dedicated symbol for the "g" sound, a modified gamma was introduced c. 250 B.C.E. as G. In classical Latin -c- has only the value "k," and thus it passed to Celtic and, via Irish monks, to Anglo-Saxon, where -k- was known but little used.

In Old French, many "k" sounds drifted to "ts" and by 13c., "s," but still were written with a -c-. Thus the 1066 invasion brought to the English language a more vigorous use of -k- and a flood of French and Latin words in which -c- represented "s" (as in cease, ceiling, circle). By 15c. native English words with -s- were being respelled with -c- for "s" (as in ice, mice, lice). In some words from Italian, meanwhile, the -c- has a "ch" sound (a sound evolution in Italian that parallels the Old French one).
C.E.: as an abbreviation for "Common Era" or "Christian Era," and a non-Christian alternative to A.D., attested from 1838 in works on Jewish history. Companion B.C.E. is attested from 1881.
C.O.D.: abbreviation of cash on delivery, 1859, originally American English.
c/o: addressing abbreviation for care of; "common" by 1889.
ca.sa.: abbreviation of Latin capias ad satisfaciendum, a writ issued upon a judgment in a personal action for the recovery of money (see capias).
cab (n.): 1826, "light, horse-drawn carriage," shortening of cabriolet (1763), from French cabriolet (18c.), diminutive of cabrioler "leap, caper" (16c./17c.), from Italian capriolare "jump in the air," from capriola, properly "the leap of a kid," from Latin capreolus "wild goat, roebuck," from PIE *kap-ro- "he-goat, buck" (cognates: Old Irish gabor, Welsh gafr, Old English hæfr, Old Norse hafr "he-goat"). The carriages had springy suspensions.

Extended to hansoms and other types of carriages, then extended to similar-looking parts of locomotives (1851). Applied especially to public horse carriages, then to automobiles-for-hire (1899) when these began to replace them.
cabal (n.): 1520s, "mystical interpretation of the Old Testament," later "society, small group meeting privately" (1660s), from French cabal, in both senses, from Medieval Latin cabbala (see cabbala). Popularized in English 1673 as an acronym for five intriguing ministers of Charles II (Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale), which gave the word its sinister connotations.
cabala (n.): 1670s, variant of cabbala. Related: Cabalist.
cabalistic (adj.): 1670s; see cabal + -istic.
caballero (n.): 1877, "a Spanish gentleman," from Spanish caballero, from Latin caballarius, from caballus "a pack-horse, nag, hack" (see cavalier (n.)). Equivalent of French chevalier, Italian cavaliere.
cabana (n.): 1898, western U.S., from American Spanish cognate of cabin (q.v.).
cabaret (n.): 1650s, "tavern, bar, little inn," from French cabaret, originally "tavern" (13c.), which is of uncertain origin, perhaps from Middle Dutch cambret, from Old French (Picard dialect) camberete, diminutive of cambre "chamber" (see chamber (n.)). The word was "somewhat naturalized" in this sense [OED]. It was borrowed again from French with a meaning "a restaurant/night club" in 1912; extension of meaning to "entertainment, floor show" is by 1922.
cabbage (n.): mid-15c., caboge, from Middle French caboche "head" (in dialect, "cabbage"), from Old French caboce "head," a diminutive from Latin caput "head" (see capitulum). Introduced to Canada 1541 by Jacques Cartier on his third voyage. First written record of it in U.S. is 1660s.

The decline of "ch" to "j" in the unaccented final syllable parallels the common pronunciation of spinach, sandwich, Greenwich, etc. The comparison of a head of cabbage to the head of a person (usually disparaging to the latter) is at least as old as Old French cabus "(head of) cabbage; nitwit, blockhead," from Italian cappuccio, diminutive of capo.
cabbala (n.): 1520s, from Medieval Latin cabbala, from Mishnaic Hebrew qabbalah "reception, received lore, tradition," especially "tradition of mystical interpretation of the Old Testament," from qibbel "to receive, admit, accept." Compare Arabic qabala "he received, accepted."
cabbalistic (adj.): 1620s, from cabbala + -istic.
cabbie (n.): also cabby, "cab-driver," 1859, from cab (n.) + -ie. Also see taxi (n.).