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eccentric (adj.)[eccentric 词源字典]: 1550s, from Middle French eccentrique and directly from Medieval Latin eccentricus (noun and adjective; see eccentric (n.)). Of persons, figurative sense of "odd, whimsical" first recorded 1620s. "Eccentric is applied to acts which are the effects of tastes, prejudices, judgments, etc., not merely different from those of ordinary people, but largely unaccountable and often irregular ..." [Century Dictionary].[eccentric etymology, eccentric origin, 英语词源]
eccentricity (n.): 1540s, of planetary orbits; 1650s, of persons (an instance of eccentricity); 1794, of persons (a quality of eccentricity); from eccentric (adj.) + -ity or from Modern Latin eccentricitatem, from eccentricus. Related: Eccentricities.
Ecclesiastes (n.): c. 1300, name given to one of the Old Testament books, traditionally ascribed to Solomon, from Greek ekklesiastes (see ecclesiastic), to render Hebrew qoheleth "one who addresses an assembly," from qahal "assembly." The title is technically the designation of the speaker, but that word throughout is usually rendered into English as "The Preacher" (which Klein calls "erroneous," as the modern meaning of preacher is not synonymous with the Greek word).
ecclesiastic (adj.): late 15c., from Middle French ecclésiastique and directly from Late Latin ecclesiasticus, from Greek ekklesiastikos "of the (ancient Athenian) assembly," in late Greek, "of the church," from ekklesiastes "speaker in an assembly or church, preacher," from ekkalein "to call out," from ek "out" (see ex-) + kalein "to call" (see claim (v.)). As a noun, "one holding an office in the Christian ministry," 1650s; it also was used as a noun in Late Latin.
ecclesiastical (adj.): early 15c., from ecclesiastic + -al (1). Related: Ecclesiastically.
ecdysiast (n.): H.L. Mencken's invented proper word for "strip-tease artist," 1940, from Greek ekdysis "a stripping or casting off" (used scientifically in English from mid-19c. with reference to serpents shedding skin and molting birds or crustacea), from ekdyein "to put off one's clothes, take off, strip off" (contrasted with endyo "to put on"), from ek (see ex-) + dyein "to enter, to put on."
echelon (n.): 1796, echellon, "step-like arrangement of troops," from French échelon "level, echelon," literally "rung of a ladder," from Old French eschelon, from eschiele "ladder," from Late Latin scala "stair, slope," from Latin scalae (plural) "ladder, steps," from PIE *skand- "to spring, leap" (see scan (v.)). Sense of "level, subdivision" is from World War I.
echidna (n.): Australian egg-laying hedgehog-like mammal, 1810, said to have been named by Cuvier, usually explained as from Greek ekhidna "snake, viper" (also used metaphorically of a treacherous wife or friend), from ekhis "snake," from PIE *angwhi- "snake, eel" (cognates: Norwegian igle, Old High German egala, German Egel "leech," Latin anguis "serpent, snake"). But this sense is difficult to reconcile with this animal (unless it is a reference to the ant-eating tongue). The name perhaps belongs to Latin echinus, Greek ekhinos "sea-urchin," originally "hedgehog" (in Greek also "sharp points"), which Watkins explains as "snake-eater," from ekhis "snake." The 1810 Encyclopaedia Britannica gives as the animal's alternative name "porcupine ant-eater." Or, more likely, the name refers to Echidna as the name of a serpent-nymph in Greek mythology, "a beautiful woman in the upper part of her body; but instead of legs and feet, she had from the waist downward, the form of a serpent," in which case the animal was so named for its mixed characteristics (early naturalists doubted whether it was mammal or amphibian).
echinoderm (n.): 1834, from Modern Latin Echinodermata, name of the phylum that includes starfish and sea urchins, from Latinized form of Greek ekhinos "sea urchin," originally "porcupine, hedgehog" (see echidna) + derma (genitive dermatos) "skin" (see derma); so called from its spiky shell. Related: Echinodermal.
echo (n.): mid-14c., "sound repeated by reflection," from Latin echo, from Greek echo, personified in classical mythology as a mountain nymph who pined away for love of Narcissus until nothing was left of her but her voice, from or related to ekhe "sound," ekhein "to resound," from PIE *wagh-io-, extended form of root *(s)wagh- "to resound" (cognates: Sanskrit vagnuh "sound," Latin vagire "to cry," Old English swogan "to resound"). Related: Echoes. Echo chamber attested from 1937.
echo (v.): 1550s (intrans.), c. 1600 (trans.), from echo (n.). Related: Echoed; echoing.
echoic (adj.): 1880; see echo (n.) + -ic. A word from the OED.
Onomatopoeia, in addition to its awkwardness, has neither associative nor etymological application to words imitating sounds. It means word-making or word-coining and is strictly as applicable to Comte's altruisme as to cuckoo. Echoism suggests the echoing of a sound heard, and has the useful derivatives echoist, echoize, and echoic instead of onomatopoetic, which is not only unmanageable, but when applied to words like cuckoo, crack, erroneous; it is the voice of the cuckoo, the sharp sound of breaking, which are onomatopoetic or word-creating, not the echoic words which they create. [James A.H. Murray, Philological Society president's annual address, 1880]
echolalia (n.): "meaningless repetition of words and phrases," 1876, from German (von Romberg, 1865), from Greek ekho (see echo (n.)) + lalia "talk, prattle, a speaking," from lalein "to speak, prattle," of echoic origin.
echolocation (n.): 1944, from echo (n.) + location.
echopraxia (n.): "meaningless imitation of the movements of others," 1902, from Greek ekho (see echo (n.)) + praxis "action" (see praxis).
echovirus (n.): also ECHO virus, 1955, acronym for enteric cytopathogenic human orphan; "orphan" because when discovered they were not known to cause any disease.
eclair (n.): "small, oblong cake filled with cream or custard and glazed or iced," 1861, from French éclair, literally "lightning," from Old French esclair "light, daylight, flash of light," verbal noun from esclairare "to light up, illuminate, make shine" (12c.), formerly esclairer, ultimately from Latin exclarare "light up, illumine," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + clarus "clear" (see clear (adj.)).
eclampsia (n.): 1866, from Modern Latin, from Greek eklampsis "a shining forth, exceeding brightness," from ek- "out" (see ex-) + stem of lampein "to shine" (see lamp) + abstract noun ending -ia.
eclat (n.): 1670s, "showy brilliance," from French éclat "splinter, fragment" (12c.), also "flash of brilliance," from eclater "burst out; shine brilliantly; splinter, fly to fragments," from Old French esclater "smash, shatter into pieces," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps from a Germanic word related to slit (v.) and to Old High German skleizen "tear to pieces; to split, cleave." Extended sense of "conspicuous success" is first recorded in English in 1741.
eclectic (adj.): 1680s, "not confined to or following any one model or system," originally in reference to ancient philosophers who selected doctrines from every system; from French eclectique (1650s), from Greek eklektikos "selective," literally "picking out," from eklektos "selected," from eklegein "pick out, select," from ek "out" (see ex-) + legein "gather, choose" (see lecture (n.)). Broader sense of "borrowed from diverse sources" is first recorded 1847. As a noun from 1817.