英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

lean (v.)[lean 词源字典]: c. 1200, from Old English hleonian "to bend, recline, lie down, rest," from Proto-Germanic *khlinen (cognates: Old Saxon hlinon, Old Frisian lena, Middle Dutch lenen, Dutch leunen, Old High German hlinen, German lehnen "to lean"), from PIE root *klei- "to lean, to incline" (cognates: Sanskrit srayati "leans," sritah "leaning;" Old Persian cay "to lean;" Lithuanian slyti "to slope," slieti "to lean;" Latin clinare "to lean, bend," clivus "declivity," inclinare "cause to bend," declinare "bend down, turn aside;" Greek klinein "to cause to slope, slant, incline;" Old Irish cloin "crooked, wrong;" Middle Irish cle, Welsh cledd "left," literally "slanting;" Welsh go-gledd "north," literally "left" -- for similar sense evolution, see Yemen, Benjamin, southpaw).

Meaning "to incline the body against something for support" is mid-13c. Figurative sense of "to trust for support" is from early 13c. Sense of "to lean toward mentally, to favor" is from late 14c. Related: Leaned; leaning. Colloquial lean on "put pressure on" (someone) is first recorded 1960.[lean etymology, lean origin, 英语词源]
lean (adj.): "thin, spare, with little flesh or fat," c. 1200, from Old English hlæne "lean, thin," possibly from hlænan "cause to lean or bend," from Proto-Germanic *khlainijan, which would connect it to Old English hleonian (see lean (v.)). But perhaps rather, according to OED, from a PIE *qloinio- (with cognates in Lithuanian klynas "scrap, fragment," Lettish kleins "feeble"). Extended and figurative senses from early 14c. The noun meaning "lean animals or persons" is from c. 1200, from the adjective.
lean (n.): "action or state of leaning," 1776, from lean (v.).
lean-to (n.): "building whose rafters pitch against another building or wall," mid-15c., from lean (v.) + to.
Leander: youth of Abydos, lover of Hero, who swam nightly across the Hellespont to visit her, from Greek Leiandros, literally "lion-man," from leon "lion" + aner (genitive andros) "man" (see anthropo-).
leanness (n.): Old English hlænnesse; see lean (adj.) + -ness.
leap (v.): c. 1200, from Old English hleapan "to jump, run, leap" (class VII strong verb; past tense hleop, past participle hleapen), from Proto-Germanic *hlaupan (cognates: Old Saxon hlopan, Old Norse hlaupa, Old Frisian hlapa, Dutch lopen, Old High German hlouffan, German laufen "to run," Gothic us-hlaupan "to jump up"), of uncertain origin, with no known cognates beyond Germanic. Leap-frog, the children's game, is attested by that name from 1590s; figurative use by 1704.
First loke and aftirward lepe [proverb recorded from mid-15c.]
Related: Leaped; leaping.
leap (n.): c. 1200, from Old English hliep, hlyp (West Saxon), *hlep (Mercian, Northumbrian) "a leap, bound, spring, sudden movement; thing to leap from;" common Germanic (cognates: Old Frisian hlep, Dutch loop, Old High German hlouf, German lauf); from the root of leap (v.). Leaps has been paired with bounds since at least 1720.
leap year (n.): late 14c., from leap (v.) + year. So called from its causing fixed festival days, which normally advance one weekday per year, to "leap" ahead one day in the week.
learn (v.): Old English leornian "to get knowledge, be cultivated, study, read, think about," from Proto-Germanic *liznojan (cognates: Old Frisian lernia, Middle Dutch leeren, Dutch leren, Old High German lernen, German lernen "to learn," Gothic lais "I know"), with a base sense of "to follow or find the track," from PIE *leis- (1) "track, furrow." Related to German Gleis "track," and to Old English læst "sole of the foot" (see last (n.)).

The transitive sense (He learned me how to read), now vulgar, was acceptable from c. 1200 until early 19c., from Old English læran "to teach" (cognates: Dutch leren, German lehren "to teach," literally "to make known;" see lore), and is preserved in past participle adjective learned "having knowledge gained by study." Related: Learning.
learnable (adj.): 1620s, from learn + -able.
learned (adj.): "having knowledge gained by study," mid-14c., past participle adjective from learn (v.) in former transitive sense. Related: Learnedly; learnedness.
learning (n.): Old English leornung "learning, study," from leornian (see learn). Learning curve attested by 1907.
lease (n.): late 14c., "legal contract conveying property, usually for a fixed period of time and with a fixed compensation," from Anglo-French les (late 13c.), from lesser "to let, let go," from Old French laissier "to let, allow, permit; bequeath, leave," from Latin laxare "loosen, open, make wide," from laxus "loose" (see lax). Medial -x- in Latin tends to become -ss- or -s- in French (compare cuisse from coxa). Modern French equivalent legs is altered by erroneous derivation from Latin legatum "bequest, legacy."
lease (v.): late 15c., "to take a lease," from Anglo-French lesser, Old French laissier "to let, leave" (see lease (n.). Related: Leased; leasing. Lessor, lessee in contract language preserves the Anglo-French form.
leash (v.): "to attach to or with a leash," 1590s, from leash (n.). Related: Leashed; leashing.
leash (n.): "thong for holding a dog or hound," c. 1300, from Old French laisse "hound's leash," from laissier "loosen," from Latin laxare, from laxus "loose" (see lax). Figurative sense attested from early 15c. The meaning "a set of three" is from early 14c., originally in sporting language.
least (adj.): Old English læst, earlier læsest "smallest" (superlative of lytel "small"), from Proto-Germanic superlative *laisistaz (see less). Qualifying phrase at least is Middle English æt læstan. As a noun, from early 12c.; as an adverb, c. 1200.
leastways: 1825, colloquial, from least + way (n.). Regarded as vulgar, but simply a one-word form of Chaucer's leest weye (late 14c.).
leather (n.): Old English leðer (in compounds only) "hide, skin, leather," from Proto-Germanic *lethran (cognates: Old Norse leðr, Old Frisian lether, Old Saxon lethar, Middle Dutch, Dutch leder, Old High German ledar, German leder), from PIE *letro- "leather" (cognates: Old Irish lethar, Welsh lledr, Breton lezr). As an adjective from early 14c.; it acquired a secondary sense of "sado-masochistic" 1980s, having achieved that status in homosexual jargon in the 1970s.