英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

worst (adj.)[worst 词源字典]: Old English wyrresta, from Proto-Germanic *wers-ista- (cognates: Old Saxon wirsista, Old Norse verstr, Old Frisian wersta, Old High German wirsisto), superlative of PIE *wers- (1) "to confuse, mix up" (see war (n.)). Phrase in the worst way (1839) is from American English sense of "most severely." The adverb is Old English wyrst; the noun, "that which is most evil or bad," is from late 14c.[worst etymology, worst origin, 英语词源]
worst (v.): "damage, inflict loss upon," c. 1600, from worst (adj.). Meaning "defeat in argument" is from 1650s. Related: Worsted; worsting.
worsted (n.): woolen fabric made from twisted yarn, late 13c., from Worstead (Old English Wurðestede), town in Norfolk where the cloth originally was made.
wort (n.): "a plant," Old English wyrt "root, herb, vegetable, plant, spice," from Proto-Germanic *wurtiz (cognates: Old Saxon wurt, Old Norse, Danish urt, Old High German wurz "plant, herb," German Wurz, Gothic waurts, Old Norse rot "root"), from PIE root *wrad- "twig, root" (see radish). St. John's wort attested from 15c.
worth (adj.): Old English weorþ "significant, valuable, of value; valued, appreciated, highly thought-of, deserving, meriting; honorable, noble, of high rank; suitable for, proper, fit, capable," from Proto-Germanic *werthaz "toward, opposite," hence "equivalent, worth" (cognates: Old Frisian werth, Old Norse verðr, Dutch waard, Old High German werd, German wert, Gothic wairþs "worth, worthy"), perhaps a derivative of PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus). Probably related to weird. Old Church Slavonic vredu, Lithuanian vertas "worth" are Germanic loan-words. From c. 1200 as "equivalent to, of the value of, valued at; having importance equal to; equal in power to."
worth (v.): "to come to be," now chiefly, if not solely, in the archaic expression woe worth the day, present subjunctive of Old English weorðan "to become, be, to befall," from Proto-Germanic *werthan "to become" (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Dutch werthan, Old Norse verða, Old Frisian wertha, Old High German werdan, German werden, Gothic wairþan "to become"), literally "to turn into," from Proto-Germanic *werthaz "toward, opposite," perhaps a derivative of PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus).
worth (n.): Old English weorþ "value, price, price paid; worth, worthiness, merit; equivalent value amount, monetary value," from worth (adj.). From c. 1200 as "excellence, nobility."
worthless (adj.): 1580s, from worth (n.) + -less. Related: Worthlessly; worthlessness.
worthwhile (adj.): by 1660s, worth while (one-word form from late 19c.), from worth (adj.) + while (n.). Phrase worth the while is attested from late 14c.
worthy (adj.): mid-13c., "having merit," from worth (n.) + -y (2). Old English had weorþful in this sense. Attested from late 14c. as a noun meaning "person of merit" (especially in Nine Worthies, famous men of history and legend: Joshua, David, Judas Maccabæus, Hector, Alexander, Julius Cæsar, Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon -- three Jews, three gentiles, three Christians). Related: Worthily; worthiness.
wot (v.): "to know" (archaic), from Old English wat, first and third person singular present indicative of witan "to know" (see wit (v.)).
would: Old English wolde, past tense and past subjunctive of willan "to will" (see will (v.)). Would-be (adj.) "wishing to be, vainly pretending" is first recorded c. 1300.
wound (n.): Old English wund "hurt, injury, ulcer," from Proto-Germanic *wundaz (cognates: Old Saxon wunda, Old Norse und, Old Frisian wunde, Old High German wunta, German wunde "wound"), perhaps from PIE root *wen- (2) "to beat, wound."
wound (v.): Old English wundian "to wound," from the source of wound (n.). Cognate with Old Frisian wundia, Middle Dutch and Dutch wonden, Old High German wunton, German verwunden, Gothic gawundon. Figurative use, of feelings, etc., from c. 1200. Related: Wounded; wounding.
wounder (n.): late 15c., agent noun from wound (v.).
woven (adj.): late 15c., past participle adjective from weave (v.) on analogy of stolen.
wow (interj.): 1510s, Scottish, a natural expression of amazement. "This old interjection had a new popularity in the early 1900s and again during the 1960s and later" [DAS].
wow (v.): "overwhelm with delight or amazement," 1924, American English slang, from wow (interj.). Related: Wowed; wowing. Used as a noun meaning "unqualified success" since 1920.
WPA: 1936, initialism (acronym) from Works Progress Administration, U.S. agency established 1935.
wr-: common Germanic consonantal combination, especially to start words implying twisting or distortion. Retained in Dutch and Flemish; reduced to -r- in Old High German and Old Norse; represented by vr- in Danish and Swedish; still spelled -wr- in English, but the -w- ceased to be pronounced c. 1450-1700 except in dialects.