英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

microspore (n.)[microspore 词源字典]: 1856, from micro- + spore.[microspore etymology, microspore origin, 英语词源]
microsurgery (n.): 1927, from micro- + surgery.
microtia (n.): "abnormal smallness of the ear," 1881, Medical Latin, from micro- + Greek ous (genitive otos) "ear" (see ear (n.)) + abstract noun ending -ia.
microwavable (adj.): by 1982, from microwave + -able.
microwave (n.): type of electromagnetic wave, 1931, coined in English from micro- + wave (n.). First record of microwave oven is from 1961; microwave as short for this is attested from 1974; as a verb, from 1976.
micturate (v.): "urinate," by 1842, from micturition; malformed and with an erroneous sense; condemned from its birth.
micturition (n.): 1725, "the need very badly to urinate," from Latin micturitum, from past participle of micturire "to desire to urinate," desiderative of mingere "to urinate," from PIE *meigh- "to urinate" (cognates: Sanskrit mehati "urinates;" Avestan maezaiti "urinates;" Greek omeikhein "to urinate;" Armenian mizem "urinate;" Lithuanian minžu "urinate;" Old English migan "to urinate," micga "urine," meox "dung, filth"). As during the final 20 minutes of a 4-hour film after drinking a 32-ounce Mountain Dew from the snack bar and the movie ends with a drawn-out farewell scene while Frodo is standing on the pier and wavelets lap audibly on the dock the whole time as if the director was a sadist set on compounding your torment.
mid (prep., adj.): Old English mid "with, in conjunction with, in company with, together with, among," from Proto-Germanic *medjaz (cognates: Old Norse miðr, Old Saxon middi, Old Frisian midde, Old High German mitti, Gothic midjis "mid, middle"), from PIE *medhyo- "middle" (see medial (adj.)). Now surviving in English only as a prefix (mid-air, midstream, etc.); as a preposition it often is a shortened form of amid (compare midshipman).
Mid East: "Middle East," attested from 1944. Loosely defined.
mid-air (n.): also midair, 1660s, from mid + air (n.1). Lit. "the part of the air between the clouds and the air near the ground."
mid-course: 1560s, from mid + course (n.).
Midas: king of Phrygia whose touched turned everything to gold (including his food), 1560s. Some usages refer to the unrelated story of the ass's ears given him by Apollo for being dull to the charms of his lyre. The name is of Phrygian origin.
midday (n.): Old English middæg "midday, noon," contracted from midne dæg; see mid + day. Similar formation in Old High German mittitag, German mittag, Old Norse miðdagr.
midden (n.): mid-14c., "dung hill," of Scandinavian origin; compare Danish mødding, from møg "muck" (see muck (n.)) + dynge "heap of dung" (see dung). Modern archaeological sense of "kitchen midden" is from Danish excavations.
middle (adj.): Old English middel, from West Germanic *middila (cognates: Old Frisian middel, Old Saxon middil, Middle Low German, Dutch middel, Old High German mittil, German mittel), from Proto-Germanic *medjaz (see mid). Middle name attested from 1815; as "one's outstanding characteristic," colloquial, from 1911, American English.
According to Mr. H.A. Hamilton, in his "Quarter Sessions from Queen Elizabeth," the practice of giving children two Christian names was unknown in England before the period of the Stuarts, was rarely adopted down to the time of the Revolution, and never became common until after the Hanoverian family was seated on the throne. "In looking through so many volumes of county records," he says, "I have, of course, seen many thousands and tens of thousands of proper names, belonging to men of all ranks and degrees,--to noblemen, justices, jurymen, witnesses, sureties, innkeepers, hawkers, paupers, vagrants, criminals, and others,--and in no single instance, down to the end of the reign of Anne, have I noticed any person bearing more than one Christian name ...." [Walsh]
Middle school attested from 1838, originally "middle-class school, school for middle-class children;" the sense in reference to a school for grades between elementary and high school is from 1960. Middle management is 1957. Middle-of-the-road in the figurative sense is attested from 1894; edges of a dirt road can be washed out and thus less safe. Middle finger so called from c. 1000.
middle (n.): Old English middel, from middle (adj.).
middle age (n.): "period between youth and old age," late 14c.; middle-aged (adj.) first recorded c. 1600.
Middle Ages (n.): "period between ancient and modern times" (formerly roughly 500-1500 C.E., now more usually 1000-1500), attested from 1610s, translating Latin medium aevum (compare German mittelalter, French moyen âge).
middle class (n.): 1766; as an adjective, "characteristic of the middle class" (depreciative) it dates from 1893.
Middle East (n.): 1899; never defined in a generally accepted way. Early use with reference to British India. Hence Middle-Eastern (1903).