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complaisant [complaisant 词源字典]: complaisant: [17] Complaisant and complacent [17] are virtual doublets. Both come from Latin complacēre ‘please greatly’ (a compound verb formed from placēre, source of English please), but they reached English along different routes. Complaisant came via French, from complaisant, the present participle of complaire ‘gratify’, but complacent was a direct borrowing from the Latin present participle. It originally meant simply ‘pleasant, delightful’, and did not take on its present derogatory connotations (at first expressed by the now obsolete complacential) until the mid 18th century.
=> complacent, please[complaisant etymology, complaisant origin, 英语词源]
disappoint: disappoint: [15] Disappoint (a borrowing from French désappointer) originally meant ‘remove from a post or office, sack’ – that is, literally, ‘deprive of an appointment’; ‘A monarch … hath power … to appoint or to disappoint the greatest officers’, Thomas Bowes, De La Primaudraye’s French academie 1586. This semantic line has now died out, but parallel with it was a sense ‘fail to keep an appointment’, which appears to be the ancestor of modern English ‘fail to satisfy, frustrate, thwart’.
disaster: disaster: [16] The word disaster has astrological connotations. It comes, perhaps via French désastre, from Italian disastro; this was a backformation from disastrato, literally ‘ill-starred’, a compound adjective formed from the pejorative prefix dis- and astro ‘star’, a descendant of Latin astrum ‘star’. This in turn came from Greek astron ‘star’, source of English astronomy and related to English star. So the underlying meaning of the word is ‘malevolent astral influence’. Provençal has the parallel malastre ‘misfortune’.
nuisance: nuisance: [15] Nuisance has become much less serious over the centuries. When English originally acquired it, it meant ‘harm, injury’ (‘Helpe me to weye ageyn the feend … keepe vs from his nusance’, Thomas Hoccleve, Mother of God 1410), reflecting its origins in Latin nocēre ‘injure’ (source also of English innocent and innocuous). But gradually it softened to ‘troublesomeness’, and by the early 19th century it had acquired its present-day connotations of ‘petty annoyance’.
palisade: palisade: see pale
partisan: partisan: [16] Etymologically, a partisan is someone who takes a ‘part’ – in the sense ‘side’ or ‘cause’. The word comes via French partisan from partisano, a dialect form of mainstream Italian partigiano, which was based on parte ‘part’.
=> part
visa: visa: [19] A visa is etymologically something ‘seen’. The word comes via French visa from Latin vīsa, literally ‘things seen’, a noun use of the neuter plural form of the past participle of vidēre ‘see’ (source of English vision, visit, etc). The notion underlying the word is that a visa is a note or other mark made on a passport to signify that it has been officially ‘seen’ or examined.
=> visit, vision
advisability (n.): 1778 (in a letter from George Washington at Valley Forge), from advisable + -ity.
advisable (adj.): 1640s, from advise (v.) + -able.
amortisation (n.): chiefly British English spelling of amortization; see -ize.
appraisal (n.): "setting of a price," by 1784, American English, from appraise + -al (2). Figurative sense, "act of appraising" (originally a term of literary criticism) is from 1817.
artisan (n.): 1530s, from Italian artesano, from Vulgar Latin artitianus, from Latin artitus, past participle of artire "to instruct in the arts," from ars (genitive artis) "art" (see art (n.)). Barnhart reports Middle French artisan, often listed as the direct source of the English word, is attested too late to be so.
artisan (adj.): 1859, from artisan (n.).
authorisation (n.): chiefly British English spelling of authorization (q.v.); for spelling, see -ize.
bipartisan (adj.): also bi-partisan, 1894, from bi- + partisan.
bipartisanship (n.): also bi-partisanship, 1895, from bipartisan + -ship.
Bodhisattva (n.): 1828, from Sanskrit, literally "one whose essence is perfect knowledge," from bodhi "perfect knowledge" (see Buddha) + sattva "reality, being."
characterisation (n.): chiefly British English spelling of characterization; for spelling, see -ize.
cisalpine (adj.): 1540s, from Latin cisalpinus "on this side of the Alps" (from the Roman point of view), from cis- (see cis-) + Alpinus "Alpine" (see Alpine). Compare ultramontane.
civilisation (n.): chiefly British English spelling of civilization. Also see -ize.
cognisance (n.): alternative spelling of cognizance (q.v.); also see -ize.
cognisant (adj.): alternative spelling of cognizant (q.v.); also see -ize.
colonisation (n.): chiefly British English spelling of colonization; see also -ize.
complaisance (n.): 1650s, from French complaisance (14c.), in Middle French "care or desire to please," from Medieval Latin complacentia (see complacence).
complaisant (adj.): 1640s, from French complaisant (16c.), in Middle French, "pleasing," present participle of complaire "acquiesce to please," from Latin complacere "be very pleasing" (see complacent, with which it overlapped till mid-19c.). Possibly influenced in French by Old French plaire "gratify."
conceptualisation (n.): chiefly British English spelling of conceptualization; for spelling, see -ize.
crystallisation (n.): chiefly British English spelling of crystallization; for spelling, see -ize.
disability (n.): 1570s, "want of ability;" see dis- + ability. Related: Disabilities.
disable (v.): mid-15c., from dis- "do the opposite of" + ablen (v.) "to make fit" (see able). Related: Disabled; disabling. Earlier in the same sense was unable (v.) "make unfit, render unsuitable" (c. 1400).
disabled (adj.): "incapacitated," 1630s, past participle adjective from disable. Earlier it meant "legally disqualified" (mid-15c.).
disabuse (v.): 1610s, from dis- + abuse (v.). Related: Disabused; disabusing.
disaccord (v.): late 14c.; see dis- + accord (v.). Related: Disaccorded; disaccording; disaccordance.
disaccustom (v.): late 15c., from Old French desacostumer "render unfamiliar" (Modern French désaccoutumer), from des- (see dis-) + acostumer (see accustom). Related: Disaccustomed.
disadvantage (n.): late 14c., disavauntage, from Old French desavantage (13c.), from des- (see dis-) + avantage (see advantage).
disadvantage (v.): 1530s, from disadvantage (n.). Related: Disadvantaged; disadvantaging.
disadvantaged (adj.): 1610s, past participle adjective from disadvantage (v.). Of races or classes deprived of opportunities for advancement, from 1902, a word popularized by sociologists. As a noun, shorthand for disadvantaged persons, it is attested by 1939.
disadvantageous (adj.): c. 1600; see disadvantage (n.) + -ous. Related: Disadvantageously.
disaffect (v.): 1610s, from dis- + affect (v.1). Related: Disaffected; disaffecting.
disaffected (adj.): "estranged, hostile," usually in reference to authority, 1630s, past participle adjective from disaffect. Related: Disaffectedly; disaffectedness.
disaffection (n.): c. 1600; see dis- + affection.
disagree (v.): late 15c., "refuse to assent," from Old French desagreer (12c.), from des- (see dis-) + agreer (see agree). Related: Disagreed; disagreeing.
disagreeable (adj.): c. 1400, "not in agreement," from Old French desagreable (13c.), from des- (see dis-) + agreable (see agreeable). Meaning "not in accord with one's taste" is from 1690s. Related: Disagreeably; disagreeableness. Slightly earlier in same sense was unagreeable (late 14c.).
disagreement (n.): late 15c.; see dis- + agreement.
disallow (v.): late 14c., "to refuse to praise," from Old French desalouer "to blame," from des- (see dis-) + alouer (see allow); meaning "to reject" is from 1550s. Related: Disallowed; disallowing; disallowance.
disallowable (adj.): mid-15c., from disallow + -able.
disambiguate (v.): 1963, back-formation from disambiguation. Related: Disambiguated; disambiguating.
disambiguation (n.): 1827; see dis- + ambiguous + -ation.
disappear (v.): early 15c., disaperen, from dis- "do the opposite of" + appear. Earlier was disparish (early 15c.), from French disparaiss-, stem of disparaître. Transitive sense. "cause to disappear," is from 1897 in chemistry; by 1948 of inconvenient persons. Related: Disappeared; disappearing; disappears. Slang disappearing act is originally of magic shows; in figurative sense of "getting away" first attested 1913.
disappearance (n.): 1712; see disappear + -ance.
disappoint (v.): early 15c., "dispossess of appointed office," from Middle French desappointer (14c.) "undo the appointment, remove from office," from des- (see dis-) + appointer "appoint" (see appoint).

Modern sense of "to frustrate expectations" (late 15c.) is from secondary meaning of "fail to keep an appointment." Related: Disappointed; disappointing.