quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- agribusiness (n.)[agribusiness 词源字典]
- 1955, compound formed from agriculture + business.[agribusiness etymology, agribusiness origin, 英语词源]
- bioluminescence (n.)
- also bio-luminescence, 1909; see bio- + luminescence.
- bioluminescent (adj.)
- also bio-luminescent, 1929; see bioluminescence.
- bloodiness (n.)
- 1590s, from bloody (adj.) + -ness.
- brotherliness (n.)
- Old English broðorlichnes; see brotherly + -ness.
- business (n.)
- Old English bisignes (Northumbrian) "care, anxiety, occupation," from bisig "careful, anxious, busy, occupied, diligent" (see busy (adj.)) + -ness. Middle English sense of "state of being much occupied or engaged" (mid-14c.) is obsolete, replaced by busyness.
Sense of "a person's work, occupation" is first recorded late 14c. (in late Old English bisig (adj.) appears as a noun with the sense "occupation, state of employment"). Meaning "what one is about at the moment" is from 1590s. Sense of "trade, commercial engagements" is first attested 1727. In 17c. it also could mean "sexual intercourse." Modern two-syllable pronunciation is 17c.
Business card first attested 1840; business letter from 1766. Business end "the practical or effective part" (of something) is American English, by 1874. Phrase business as usual attested from 1865. To mean business "be intent on serious action" is from 1856. To mind (one's) own business is from 1620s. Johnson's dictionary also has busiless "At leisure; without business; unemployed." - businessman (n.)
- 1826, from business + man (n.). Man of business is recorded from 1660s.
- Chaplinesque (adj.)
- 1921, from Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977), British-born silent movie star. The surname is attested from c. 1200, from Old French chapelain "priest."
- Chinese (adj.)
- 1570s, from China + -ese. As a noun from c. 1600. Chinee (n.) is a vulgar back-formation from this word on the mistaken notion that the word is a plural. As an adjective, Chinish also was used 16c. Chinese fire-drill "chaotic situation of many people rushing around futilely" is attested by 1962, U.S. military slang, perhaps with roots in World War II U.S. Marine Corps slang. The game Chinese checkers is attested from 1938.
- chubbiness (n.)
- 1805, from chubby + -ness.
- cleanliness (n.)
- early 15c., from cleanly + -ness.
Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness. [John Wesley, Sermon "On Dress," c. 1791]
- contrariness (n.)
- late 14c., "state of being contrary," from contrary + -ness. Meaning "fondness of opposition" is from 1640s.
- craziness (n.)
- c. 1600, "infirmity," from crazy + -ness. Meaning "state of being flawed or damaged" is from 1660s; that of mental unsoundness" is from 1755.
- Des Moines
- city in Iowa, U.S., named for French Rivière des Moines, the river that flows past it, which traditionally is derived from French des moines "of the monks," in reference to missionaries, but this probably is a fur trappers' folk-etymologizing of a name of the native people who lived there.
The place appears in a 1673 text as Moinguena, and historians believe this represents Miami-Illinois mooyiinkweena, literally "shitface," from mooy "excrement" + iinkwee "face;" a name given by the Peoria Indians (whose name has itself become a sort of insult) to their western neighbors. It is not unusual for Indian peoples to have hostile or derogatory names for others, but this seems an extreme case. - dizziness (n.)
- Old English dysignesse; see dizzy + -ness.
- dreariness (n.)
- Old English dreorinysse; see dreary + -ness.
- emptiness (n.)
- 1530s, from empty + -ness.
- finesse (n.)
- 1520s, "fineness" (obsolete); 1530s, "artifice, delicate stratagem," from Middle French finesse "fineness, subtlety," from Old French fin "subtle, delicate" (see fine (adj.)).
- finesse (v.)
- "to use fine stratagems," 1746, originally as a term in whist; see finesse (n.). Related: Finessed; finessing.
- gaudiness (n.)
- c. 1600, from gaudy + -ness.
- giddiness (n.)
- late 13c., "thoughtless folly, flightiness," from giddy + -ness. Meaning "dizziness, vertigo" is from late 14c.
- godliness (n.)
- 1530s, from godly + -ness.
- goofiness (n.)
- 1929, from goofy + -ness.
- greediness (n.)
- Old English grædignes; see greedy + -ness.
- guiltiness (n.)
- late 14c., from guilty + -ness.
- happiness (n.)
- 1520s, "good fortune," from happy + -ness. Meaning "pleasant and contented mental state" is from 1590s. Phrase greatest happiness for the greatest number was in Francis Hutcheson (1725) but later was associated with Bentham.
- haughtiness (n.)
- 1550s, from haughty + -ness. Earlier was haughtness (late 15c.), from haut (adj.).
- heaviness (n.)
- Old English hefigness "heaviness, weight; burden, affliction; dullness, torpor;" see heavy + -ness.
- holiness (n.)
- Old English halignis "holiness, sanctity, religion; holy thing;" see holy + -ness. Compare Old High German heilagnissa. As title of the Pope, it translates Latin sanctitas (until c. 600 also applied to bishops).
- homeliness (n.)
- mid-14c., from homely + -ness. Originally "meekness, gentleness," also "familiarity, intimacy; friendliness;" sense degenerated by c. 1400 to "want of refinement in manners, coarseness; presumptuousness."
- inescapable (adj.)
- 1792, from in- (1) "not, opposite of" + escapable (see escape). Related: Inescapably.
- inestimable (adj.)
- late 14c., "beyond estimation," from Old French inestimable (14c.) or directly from Latin inaestimabilis, from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + aestimabilis (see estimable). Meaning "too precious to set a value on, priceless" is attested by 1570s. Related: Inestimably.
- intestines (n.)
- "bowels," 1590s, from Latin intestina, neuter plural of intestinus (adj.) "internal, inward, intestine," from intus "within, on the inside" (see ento-). Compare Sanskrit antastyam, Greek entosthia "bowels." The Old English word was hropp, literally "rope."
- jolliness (n.)
- late 14c., from jolly + -ness.
- kinesics (n.)
- study of body language, 1952, from Greek kinesis "movement, motion" (see cite) + -ics. Related: kinesic.
- kinesiology (n.)
- 1894, from kinesi-, comb. form of Greek kinesis "movement, motion" (see cite) + -ology. Related: Kinesiological; kinesiologically.
- kinesis (n.)
- "physical movement," 1819, from Greek kinesis "movement, motion" (see cite).
- kinesthesia (n.)
- also kinaesthesia, 1888, Modern Latin compound of Greek kinein "to set in motion; to move" (see cite) + aisthesis "perception" (see anaesthesia).
- kinesthetic (adj.)
- also kinaesthetic, "pertaining to kinesthesia," 1880, coined by British neurologist Henry Charlton Bastian (1837-1915) from Greek kinein "to move" (see cite) + aisthesis "sensation" (see anaesthesia). Perhaps on model of aesthetic, prosthetic.
- kinesthetics (n.)
- also kinaesthetics, by 1893, from kinesthetic "pertaining to kinesthesia" + -ics.
- laziness (n.)
- 1570s, from lazy + -ness.
- linesman (n.)
- 1856, "soldier in a regiment of the line," from genitive of line (n.) + man (n.). Sports sense, in reference to umpires with specific duties in games with lines (originally tennis, also ice hockey) is from 1890.
- loneliness (n.)
- 1580s, from lonely + -ness.
- loveliness (n.)
- mid-14c., "lovableness," from lovely + -ness.
- lowliness (n.)
- early 15c., from lowly + -ness.
- luminescence (n.)
- 1884, from Latin lumen (genitive luminis) "light" (see luminous) + -escence.
Fluorescence and Phosphorescence -- Prof. E. Wiedmann has made a new study of these phenomena. He proposes the general name luminescence for evolutions of light which do not depend on the temperature of the substance concerned. ["Photographic News," April 20, 1888]
- luminescent
- 1889, from luminescence + -ent.
- manliness (n.)
- late 14c., from manly + -ness.
- mightiness (n.)
- Old English mihtinesse; see mighty + -ness.
- minestrone (n.)
- Italian vegetable soup, 1871, from Italian minestrone, with augmentative suffix -one + minestra "soup, pottage," literally "that which is served," from minestrare "to serve, to prepare (soup, etc.)," from Latin ministrare (see minister (v.)).