quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- feather (v.)[feather 词源字典]
- Old English fiðerian "to furnish with feathers or wings," from feðer (see feather (n.)). Meaning "to fit (an arrow) with feathers" is from early 13c.; that of "to deck, adorn, or provide with plumage" is from late 15c. In reference to oars (later paddles, propellers, etc.) from 1740, perhaps from the notion of the blade turned edgewise, or from the spray of the water as it falls off (compare nautical feather-spray, that produced by the cutwater of a fast vessel). The noun in reference to this is from the verb. Meaning "cut down to a thin edge" is from 1782, originally in woodworking. Phrase feather one's nest "enrich oneself" is from 1580s. Related: Feathered; feathering.[feather etymology, feather origin, 英语词源]
- feather-bed (n.)
- Old English feþerbedd; see feather (n.) + bed (n.).
- feather-weight (n.)
- also featherweight, "lightest weight allowable by rules," 1812 (earlier as simply feather, 1760), from feather (n.) + weight (n.). Originally in horse-racing; boxing use as a specific weight class dates from 1889.
- feature (n.)
- early 14c., "make, form, fashion" (obsolete), from Anglo-French feture, from Old French faiture "deed, action; fashion, shape, form; countenance," from Latin factura "a formation, a working," from past participle stem of facere "make, do, perform" (see factitious).
Sense of "facial characteristic" is mid-14c.; that of "any distinctive part" first recorded 1690s. Entertainment sense is from 1801; in journalism by 1855. Meaning "a feature film" is from 1913. Latin factura also is the source of Spanish hechura, Portuguese feitura, Italian fattura. - feature (v.)
- 1755, "to resemble, have features resembling," from feature (n.). The sense of "make special display or attraction of" is 1888; entertainment sense from 1897. Related: Featured; featuring.
- featureless (adj.)
- 1816, from feature (n.) + -less.
- features (n.)
- "parts of the visible body" (especially the face), c. 1300, from feature (n.).
- featurette (n.)
- "short feature film," 1942, from feature (n.) in the cinematography sense + -ette.
- febicches (pl.n.)
- also fibicches, fybicches, febicchis, febucches "contrivances, cheating tricks," late 14c., of unknown origin. Quirk suggests perhaps from Pebichios, name of an old alchemist.
- febrifuge (n.)
- "medicine that reduces fever," 1680s, from French fébrifuge, literally "driving fever away," from Latin febris (see fever) + fugare "cause to flee, put to flight, drive off, chase away, rout," also used in reference to banishment and exile, derived verb from fuga "flight," from PIE *bhug-a-, suffixed form of root *bheug- (1) "to flee" (see fugitive (adj.)).
- febrile (adj.)
- 1650s, from Medieval Latin febrilis "pertaining to fever," from Latin febris "a fever" (see fever).
- February (n.)
- late 14c., ultimately from Latin februarius mensis "month of purification," from februare "to purify," from februa "purifications, expiatory rites" (plural of februum "means of purification, expiatory offerings"), which is of uncertain origin, said to be a Sabine word. De Vaan says from Proto-Italic *f(w)esro-, from a PIE word meaning "the smoking" or "the burning" (thus possibly connected with fume (n.)). The sense then could be either purification by smoke or a burnt offering.
The last month of the ancient (pre-450 B.C.E.) Roman calendar, so named in reference to the Roman feast of purification, held on the ides of the month. The Old English name for it was solmonað "mud month." English first borrowed the Roman name from Old French Feverier, which yielded Middle English Feverer, Feoverel, etc. (c. 1200) before the 14c. respelling to conform to Latin. - fecal (adj.)
- 1540s; see feces + -al (1).
- feces (n.)
- also faeces, c. 1400, "dregs," from Latin faeces "sediment, dregs," plural of faex (genitive faecis) "grounds, sediment, wine-lees, dregs," which is of unknown origin. Specific sense of "human excrement" is from 1630s in English but is not found in classical Latin. Hence Latin faex populi "the dregs of the people; the lowest class of society."
- fecit
- carved by workmen in old cathedrals, etc., "(he) made (it)," Latin third person singular perfect indicative of facere "to make" (see factitious).
- feckless (adj.)
- 1590s, from feck, "effect, value, vigor" (late 15c.), Scottish shortened form of effect (n.), + -less. Popularized by Carlyle, who left its opposite, feckful, in dialectal obscurity. Related: Fecklessly; fecklessness.
- feculent (adj.)
- "muddy, turbid, full of dregs or impurities," late 15c., from Middle French féculent, from Latin faeculentus "abounding in dregs," from stem faec- "sediment, dregs" (see feces) + adjective suffix -ulentus "full of." Related: Feculence.
- fecund (adj.)
- a 16c. Latinizing revision of the spelling of Middle English fecond (early 15c.), from Middle French fecond (Old French fecont "fruitful"), from Latin fecundus "fruitful, fertile, productive; rich, abundant," from *fe-kwondo-, suffixed form (adjectival) of Latin root *fe-, corresponding to PIE *dhe(i)- "to suck, suckle," also "produce, yield."
Cognates include: Sanskrit dhayati "sucks," dhayah "nourishing;" Greek thele "mother's breast, nipple," thelys "female, fruitful;" Old Church Slavonic dojiti "to suckle," dojilica "nurse," deti "child;" Lithuanian dele "leech;" Old Prussian dadan "milk;" Gothic daddjan "to suckle;" Old Swedish dia "suckle;" Old High German tila "female breast;" Old Irish denaim "I suck," dinu "lamb."
Also from the same Latin root come felare "to suck;" femina "woman" (*fe-mna-, literally "she who suckles"); felix "happy, auspicious, fruitful;" fetus "offspring, pregnancy;" fenum "hay" (probably literally "produce"); and probably filia/filius "daughter/son," assimilated from *felios, originally "a suckling." - fecundity (n.)
- early 15c., from Latin fecunditatem (nominative fecunditas) "fruitfulness, fertility," from fecundus "fruitful, fertile" (see fecund).
- fed (n.)
- 1788, short for Federalist; as colloquial for "official of the federal government," from 1916; especially, since 1930s, of FBI agents.