quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- missile (n.)



[missile 词源字典] - "thing thrown or discharged as a weapon," is 1650s, from missile (adj.), 1610s, "capable of being thrown," chiefly in phrase missile weapon, from French missile and directly from Latin missilis "that may be thrown or hurled" (also, in plural, as a noun, "weapons that can be thrown, darts, javelins"), from missus "a throwing, hurling," past participle of mittere "to send" (see mission). Sense of "self-propelled rocket or bomb" is first recorded 1738; the modern remote guidance projectile so called from 1945.[missile etymology, missile origin, 英语词源]
- missing (adj.)




- "not present, absent," 1520s, from present participle of miss (v.). Military sense of "not present after a battle but not known to have been killed or captured" is from 1845. Missing link first attested 1851 in Lyell. Missing person is from 1876.
- mission (n.)




- 1590s, "a sending abroad," originally of Jesuits, from Latin missionem (nominative missio) "act of sending, a despatching; a release, a setting at liberty; discharge from service, dismissal," noun of action from past participle stem of mittere "to send," oldest form probably *smittere, of unknown origin.
Diplomatic sense of "body of persons sent to a foreign land on commercial or political business" is from 1620s. In American English, sometimes "an embassy" (1805). Meaning "dispatch of an aircraft on a military operation" (1929, American English) later extended to spacecraft flights (1962), hence, mission control (1964). As a style of furniture, said to be imitative of furniture in the buildings of original Spanish missions to North America, it is attested from 1900. - missionary (n.)




- 1650s, from missionary (adj.). Missionary position attested by 1963, said to have been coined by Kinsey (1948), who identified its origin in work done by Polish anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski in Melanesia in the 1920s; allegedly from the term used by South Pacific peoples to describe what Christian missionaries promoted to replace their local variations. By late 1960s it became the general term for this type of sex, formerly also known as the English-American position.
- missionary (adj.)




- "sent on a mission," 1640s, from Modern Latin missionarius "pertaining to a mission," from Latin missionem (see mission).
- Mississippi




- originally as the name of the river, from French, from Algonquian (French missionaries first penetrated the river valley in its upper reaches), literally "big river;" compare Ojibwa mshi- "big," ziibi "river." Organized as a U.S. territory 1798; admitted as a state 1817. Related: Mississippian.
- missive (n.)




- mid-15c., "commandment," noun use of adjective (mid-15c.) meaning "sent by superior authority," from Medieval Latin missivus "for sending, sent," especially in littera missiva "letters sent," from Latin missus, past participle of mittere "to send" (see mission).
- Missouri




- originally a name for a group of native peoples among Chiwere (Siouan) tribes, from an Algonquian word recorded c. 1700, literally "people of the big canoes." The expression I'm from Missouri, you'll have to show me is attested from at least c. 1880. Related: Missourian.
- misspeak (v.)




- late 14c., "to say amiss," also "to speak insultingly," from mis- (1) + speak (v.). Related: Misspeaking; misspoken. Old English missprecan meant "to grumble, murmur."
- misspell (v.)




- 1650s, from mis- (1) + spell (v.1). Related: Misspelled; misspelling.
- misspend (v.)




- also mis-spend, "to spend amiss or wastefully," late 14c.; see mis- (1) + spend. Related: Misspent, frequently coupled with youth; misspending.
- misstate (v.)




- also mis-state, 1640s, from mis- (1) + state (v.). Related: Misstated; misstating.
- misstatement (n.)




- 1790, from misstate + -ment.
- misstep (v.)




- also mis-step, c. 1300; see mis- (1) + step (v.). The noun in the figurative sense of "faux pas" is first recorded c. 1800; literal sense is from 1837.
- missus (n.)




- corruption of mistress; as oral form of Mrs., from 1790; the missus "the wife" attested by 1833.
- missy (n.)




- "young girl," 1670s, playful form of miss (n.2), chiefly among servants at first.
- mist (n.)




- Old English mist "dimness (of eyesight), mist" (earliest in compounds, such as misthleoðu "misty cliffs," wælmist "mist of death"), from Proto-Germanic *mikhstaz (cognates: Middle Low German mist, Dutch mist, Icelandic mistur, Norwegian and Swedish mist), perhaps from PIE *meigh- "to urinate" (cognates: Greek omikhle, Old Church Slavonic migla, Sanskrit mih, megha "cloud, mist;" see micturition).
Sometimes distinguished from fog, either as being less opaque or as consisting of drops large enough to have a perceptible downward motion. [OED]
Also in Old English in sense of "dimness of the eyes, either by illness or tears," and in figurative sense of "things that obscure mental vision." - mist (v.)




- Old English mistian "to become misty, to be or grow misty;" see mist (n.). Meaning "To cover with mist" is early 15c. Related: Misted; misting.
- mistake (v.)




- early 14c., "to commit an offense;" late 14c., "to misunderstand, misinterpret," from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse mistaka "take in error, miscarry," from mis- "wrongly" (see mis- (1)) + taka "take" (see take (v.)). Related: Mistook; mistaking.
- mistake (n.)




- 1630s, from mistake (v.). Meaning "unintended pregnancy" is from 1957.