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humidify (v.)[humidify 词源字典]

1884; see humid + -fy. Related: Humidified; humidifying. Earlier was humify (1650s).[humidify etymology, humidify origin, 英语词源]

humidity (n.)

late 14c., from Old French humidité, from Latin humiditatem (nominative humiditas), from humidus (see humid).

humidor (n.)

1903, from humid on model of cuspidor.

humiliate (v.)

1530s, perhaps a back-formation from humiliation. Related: Humiliated; humiliating; humiliatingly.

humiliation (n.)

late 14c., from Late Latin humiliationem (nominative humiliatio) "humbling, humiliation," noun of action from past participle stem of humiliare "to humble," from humilis "humble" (see humble).

humility (n.)

early 14c., from Old French umelite "humility, modesty, sweetness," from Latin humilitatem (nominative humilitas) "lowness, insignificance," in Church Latin "meekness," from humilis "humble" (see humble). In the Mercian hymns, Latin humilitatem is glossed by Old English eaðmodnisse.

hummer (n.)

c. 1600, agent noun from hum (v.). Meaning "energetic person or thing" is 1680s; that of "excellent person or thing" is slang from 1907. As short for Humvee, attested from 1983.

hummock (n.)

"knoll, hillock," 1550s, originally nautical, "conical small hill on a seacoast," of obscure origin, though second element is diminutive suffix -ock. In Florida, where the local form is hammock, it means a clump of hardwood trees on a knoll in a swamp or on a key.

hummus (n.)

1955, from Turkish humus "mashed chick peas."

humongous (adj.)

also humungous, by 1972, American English, apparently a fanciful coinage from huge and monstrous.

humor (n.)

mid-14c., "fluid or juice of an animal or plant," from Old North French humour (Old French humor; Modern French humeur), from Latin umor "body fluid" (also humor, by false association with humus "earth"); related to umere "be wet, moist," and to uvescere "become wet," from PIE *wegw- "wet."

In ancient and medieval physiology, "any of the four body fluids" (blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy or black bile) whose relative proportions were thought to determine state of mind. This led to a sense of "mood, temporary state of mind" (first recorded 1520s); the sense of "amusing quality, funniness" is first recorded 1680s, probably via sense of "whim, caprice" (1560s), which also produced the verb sense of "indulge," first attested 1580s. "The pronunciation of the initial h is only of recent date, and is sometimes omitted ...." [OED] For types of humor, see the useful table below, from H.W. Fowler ["Modern English Usage," 1926].

device	HUMOR	WIT	SATIRE	SARCASM	INVECTIVE	IRONY	CYNICISM	SARDONIC
motive/aim	discovery	throwing light	amendment	inflicting pain	discredit	exclusiveness	self-justification	self-relief
province	human nature	words & ideas	morals & manners	faults & foibles	misconduct	statement of facts	morals	adversity
method/means	observation	surprise	accentuation	inversion	direct statement	mystification	exposure of nakedness	pessimism
audience	the sympathetic	the intelligent	the self-satisfied	victim & bystander	the public	an inner circle	the respectable	the self

humor (v.)

1580s; see humor (n.). Related: Humored; humoring.

humoral (adj.)

"pertaining to the humors of the body," 1520s, from Middle French humoral (14c.), from Latin humor (see humor (n.)).

humorist (n.)

1590s, from humor (n.) + -ist. Perhaps on model of Middle French humoriste.

humorous (adj.)

early 15c., "relating to the body humors," a native formation from humor, or else from Middle French humoreux "damp," from Old French humor (see humor (n.)). The meaning "funny" dates from 1705 in English. Related: Humorously; humorousness.

humour

chiefly British English spelling of humor; see -or. Related: Humourous; humourist.

hump (n.)

1680s (in hump-backed), from Dutch homp "lump," from Middle Low German hump "bump," from Proto-Germanic *hump-, from PIE *kemb- "to bend, turn, change, exchange." Replaced, or perhaps influenced by, crump, from Old English crump. A meaning attested from 1901 is "mound in a railway yard over which cars must be pushed," which may be behind the figurative sense of "critical point of an undertaking" (1914). Humpback whale is from 1725.

hump (v.)

"to do the sex act with," attested from 1785, but the source of this indicates it is an older word. Meaning "to raise into a hump" is from 1840. Related: Humped; humping.

humph

as a grunting sound of disdain, etc., from 1815.

Humphrey

masc. proper name, from Old English Hunfrið, probably from Proto-Germanic *hun "strength" + Old English frið "peace." To dine with Duke Humphrey (17c.) meant to go without a meal, though the reason for the expression now is obscure.