英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

debase (v.)[debase 词源字典]: 1560s, from de- "down" + base (adj.) "low," on analogy of abase (or, alternatively, from obsolete verb base "to abuse").[debase etymology, debase origin, 英语词源]
debatable (adj.): 1530s (late 15c. in Anglo-Latin), from Old French debatable (Modern French débattable), from debatre (see debate (v.)). Earliest references were to lands claimed by two nations; general sense is from 1580s.
debate (v.): late 14c., "to quarrel, dispute," also "discuss, deliberate upon the pros and cons of," from Old French debatre (13c., Modern French débattre), originally "to fight," from de- "down, completely" (see de-) + batre "to beat" (see battery). Related: Debated; debating.
debate (n.): early 14c., "a quarrel, dispute, disagreement," from Old French debat; see debate (v.). Sense of "a formal dispute, a debating contest" is perhaps from early 15c.
debauch (v.): 1590s, from Middle French débaucher "entice from work or duty," from Old French desbaucher "to lead astray," supposedly literally "to trim (wood) to make a beam" (from bauch "beam," from Frankish balk or some other Germanic source akin to English balk (n.)). A sense of "shaving" something away, perhaps, but the root is also said to be a word meaning "workshop," which gets toward the notion of "to lure someone off the job;" either way the sense evolution is unclear.
debauchee (n.): 1660s, from French débauché "debauched (person)," noun use of past participle of debaucher (see debauch).
Debauchee, n. One who has so earnestly pursued pleasure that he has had the misfortune to overtake it. [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil's Dictionary," 1911]
debauchery (n.): 1640s, from debauch + -ery. With a variety of spellings in 17c., such as debaush-, deboich-, debosh-.
debenture (n.): "written acknowledgment of a debt," early 15c., from Latin debentur "there are due" (said to have been the first word in formal certificates of indebtedness), passive present third person plural of debere "to owe" (see debt).
debilitate (v.): 1530s, from Latin debilitatus, past participle of debilitare "to weaken," from debilis "weak" (see debility). Related: Debilitated; debilitating.
debilitation (n.): early 15c., from French débilitation (13c.), from Latin debilitationem (nominative debilitas) "a laming, crippling, weakening," noun of action from past participle stem of debilitare "to weaken" (see debilitate).
debility (n.): early 15c., from Middle French debilite (Modern French débilité) or directly from Latin debilitatem (nominative debilitas) "a laming, crippling, weakening," from debilis "lame, disabled, crippled," figuratively "weak, helpless," from de- "from, away" (see de-) + -bilis "strength," from PIE root *bel- (see Bolshevik).
debit (n.): mid-15c., from Middle French debet or directly from Latin debitum "thing owed, that which is owing," neuter past participle of debere "to owe" (see debt). As a verb from 1680s. Debit card is attested from 1975.
debonair (adj.): c. 1200, "mild, gentle, kind courteous," from Old French debonaire, from de bon' aire "of good race," originally used of hawks, hence, "thoroughbred" (opposite of French demalaire). Used in Middle English to mean "docile, courteous," it became obsolete and was revived with an altered sense of "pleasant, affable" (1680s).
Deborah: fem. proper name, prophetess and judge in the Old Testament, Hebrew, literally "bee" (thus the name is the same as Melissa).
deboshed (adj.): 1590s, anglicized spelling of French pronunciation of debauched "dissolute" (see debauch). Obsolete in England after mid-17c., retained in Scotland, and given a revival of sorts by Scott (1826), so that it turns up in 19c. literary works.
debridement (n.): "removal of damaged tissue from a wound," 1839, from French débridement, literally "an unbridling," from dé- (see de-) + bride "bridle," from a Germanic source akin to Middle High German bridel (see bridle). Related: debride, debriding.
debrief (v.): "obtain information (from someone) at the end of a mission," 1945, from de- + brief (v.). Related: Debriefed; debriefing.
debris (n.): 1708, from French débris "remains, waste, rubbish" (16c.), from obsolete debriser "break down, crush," from Old French de- (see de-) + briser "to break," from Late Latin brisare, possibly of Gaulish origin (compare Old Irish brissim "I break").
debt (n.): late 13c., dette, from Old French dete, from Latin debitum "thing owed," neuter past participle of debere "to owe," originally, "keep something away from someone," from de- "away" (see de-) + habere "to have" (see habit (n.)). Restored spelling after c. 1400. In Middle English, debt of the body (mid-14c.) was "that which spouses owe to each other, sexual intercourse."
debtor (n.): early 13c., dettur, dettour, from Old French detour, from Latin debitor "a debter," from past participle stem of debere; see debt. The -b- was restored in later French, and in English c. 1560-c. 1660. The KJV has detter three times, debter three times, debtor twice and debtour once.