英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

cation (n.)[cation 词源字典]: 1834, from Greek kation "going down," neuter present participle of katienai "to go down," from kata "down" (see cata-) + ienai "to go" (see ion). Proposed by the Rev. William Whewell (1794-1866), English polymath, and published by English physicist Michael Faraday.[cation etymology, cation origin, 英语词源]
catkin (n.): 1570s, from Dutch katteken "flowering stem of willow, birch, hazel, etc.," literally "kitten," diminutive of katte "cat" (see cat (n.)). So called for their soft, furry appearance.
catnap (n.): also cat-nap, cat's nap, by 1823, from cat (n.) + nap (n.). A nap such as a cat takes. As a verb from 1859.
catnip (n.): 1712, American English, from cat (n.) + nip, from Old English nepte "catnip," from Latin nepta, name of an aromatic herb. The older name is Middle English catmint (mid-13c.).
catoblepas (n.): late 14c., from Latin catoblepas, from Greek katobleps, from kato "downward" (related to kata-) + blepein "to look," but this might be ancient folk etymology. Name given by ancient authors to some African animal.
A wylde beest that hyghte Catoblefas and hath a lytyll body and nyce in all membres and a grete heed hangynge alway to-warde the erth. [John of Trevisa, translation of Bartholomew de Glanville's "De proprietatibus rerum," 1398]
catoptric (adj.): "pertaining to mirrors or a mirror," 1774, from Latinized form of Greek katoptrikos, from katoptron "mirror," from kata- "against" (see cata-) + stem of optos "seen, visible" (see optic) + instrumental suffix -tron. Related: Catoptrics; catoptrical.
catoptromancy (n.): "divination by means of a mirror," 1610s, from Latinized comb. form of Greek katoptron "mirror" (see catoptric) + -mancy.
catsuit (n.): also cat-suit, 1960, from cat (n.) + suit (n.).
cattail (n.): also cat's tail, type of plant, mid-15c., from cat (n.) + tail (n.).
cattish (adj.): 1590s, "cat-like," from cat (n.) + -ish. From 1883 as "catty." Related: Cattishly; cattishness.
cattle (n.): mid-13c., "property," from Anglo-French catel "property" (Old North French catel, Old French chatel), from Medieval Latin capitale "property, stock," noun use of neuter of Latin adjective capitalis "principal, chief" (see capital (n.1)). Compare sense development of fee, pecuniary. Sense originally was of movable property, especially livestock; it began to be limited to "cows and bulls" from late 16c.
catty (adj.): 1886, "devious and spiteful," from cat (n.) + -y (2). Slightly earlier was cattish. Meaning "pertaining to cats" is from 1902. Related: Cattily; cattiness.
catty-cornered (adj., adv.): 1838, earlier cater-cornered (1835, American English), from now-obsolete cater "to set or move diagonally" (1570s), from Middle French catre "four," from Latin quattuor (see four). Compare carrefour.
catwalk (n.): 1885, "long, narrow footway," from cat (n.) + walk (n.); in reference to such narrowness of passage one has to cross carefully, as a cat walks. Originally of ships and theatrical back-stages. Application to fashion show runways is by 1942.
Caucasian (adj.): 1807, from Caucasus Mountains, between the Black and Caspian seas; applied to the "white" race 1795 (in German) by German anthropologist Johann Blumenbach, because its supposed ancestral homeland lay there; since abandoned as a historical/anthropological term. (See Aryan).
Caucasian (n.): "resident or native of the Caucasus," 1843; see Caucasus + -ian. Meaning "one of the 'white' race" is from 1958 (earlier Caucasoid, 1956).
Caucasus (n.): mountain range between Europe and the Middle East, from Latin Caucasus, from Greek kaukasis, said by Pliny ("Natural History," book six, chap. XVII) to be from a Scythian word similar to kroy-khasis, literally "(the mountain) ice-shining, white with snow." But possibly from a Pelasgian root *kau- meaning "mountain."
caucus (v.): 1850, from caucus (n.), but caucusing is attested from 1788.
caucus (n.): "private meeting of party leaders," 1763, American English (New England), perhaps from an Algonquian word caucauasu "counselor, elder, adviser" in the dialect of Virginia, or from the Caucus Club of Boston, a 1760s social & political club whose name possibly derived from Modern Greek kaukos "drinking cup." Another old guess is caulker's (meeting) [Pickering, 1816], but OED finds this dismissable.
caucus: "This noun is used throughout the United States, as a cant term for those meetings, which are held by the different political parties, for the purpose of agreeing upon candidates for office, or concerting any measure, which they intend to carry at the subsequent public, or town meetings." [John Pickering, "A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases Which Have Been Supposed to be Peculiar to the United States of America," Boston, 1816]

The word caucus, and its derivative caucusing, are often used in Boston. The last answers much to what we stile parliamenteering or electioneering. All my repeated applications to different gentlemen have not furnished me with a satisfactory account of the origin of caucus. It seems to mean, a number of persons, whether more or less, met together to consult upon adopting and prosecuting some scheme of policy, for carrying a favorite point. [William Gordon, "History, Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the United States of America," London, 1788]
caudal (adj.): 1660s, from Latin cauda "tail of an animal," which is of unknown origin, + -al (1).