英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

megalith (n.)[megalith 词源字典]: huge prehistoric stone, 1853, back-formation from megalithic.[megalith etymology, megalith origin, 英语词源]
megalithic (adj.): 1836, from mega- "large" + lithos "stone" (see litho-) + -ic.
megalo-: word-forming element meaning "large, great, exaggerated," from comb. form of Greek megas "large, great" (stem megal-); see mickle.
megalocardia (n.): 1893, from megalo- + cardia "heart" (see cardiac).
megalomania (n.): "delusions of greatness," 1866, from French mégalomanie; see megalo- + mania "madness."
megalomaniac: 1882 (n.), 1883 (adj.), from megalomania (q.v.).
The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the great men of history. [Bertrand Russell, "The Conquest of Happiness"]
megalomaniacal (adj.): 1884, from megalomaniac + -al (1).
megalopolis (n.): 1832, from comb. form of Greek megas (genitive megalou) "great" (see mickle) + polis "city" (see polis). The word was used in classical times as an epithet of great cities (Athens, Syracuse, Alexandria), and it also was the name of a former city in Arcadia.
megaphone (n.): 1878, coined (perhaps by Thomas Edison, who invented it) from Greek megas "great" (see mega-) + phone "voice" (see fame (n.)). Related: Megaphonic. In Greek, megalophonia meant "grandiloquence," megalophonos "loud-voiced."
megapixel (n.): by 1977, from mega- + pixel.
megaspore (n.): 1857, from mega- + spore.
megaton (n.): unit of explosive power equal to one million tons of TNT, 1952, from mega- + ton. Related: Megatonnage.
megavolt (n.): 1868, from mega- + volt.
megawatt (v.): 1900, from mega- + watt.
megillah (n.): "long, tedious, complicated story," 1957, from Yiddish (as in a gantse Megillah "a whole megillah"), literally "roll, scroll," collective name of the five Old Testament books appointed to be read on certain feast days, from Hebrew meghillah, from galal "he rolled, unfolded." The slang use is in reference to the length of the text.
megrim: see migraine.
meh: expression of apathy or indifference, by 2003 (perhaps from 1992).
Meiji: "period of rule of emperor Mutsuhito" (1868-1912), which was marked by modernization and Westernization, 1873, from Japanese, literally "enlightened government."
mein (n.): "Chinese wheat flour noodles" (in lo mein, chow mein, etc.), 1934, from Chinese, literally "wheat flour."
meiosis (n.): "division of a cell nucleus," 1905, from Greek meiosis "a lessening," from meioun "to lessen," from meion "less," from PIE root *mei- (2) "small" (see minus).

Earlier (1580s) it was a rhetorical term, a figure of speech "weak or negative expression used for a positive and forcible one, so that it may be made all the more emphatic," as when one says "not bad" meaning "very good" or "don't mind if I do" meaning "I really would like to," or this example from "Mark Twain":
"YOUNG AUTHOR." -- Yes Agassiz does recommend authors to eat fish, because the phosphorus in it makes brains. So far you are correct. But I cannot help you to a decision about the amount you need to eat,--at least, not with certainty. If the specimen composition you send is about your fair usual average, I should judge that perhaps a couple of whales would be all you would want for the present. Not the largest kind, but simply good, middling-sized whales.
Related: meiotic; meiotically.