英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

acanthus (n.)[acanthus 词源字典]: 1660s, from Latin acanthus, from Greek akanthos, from ake "point, thorn" (see acrid) + anthos "flower" (see anther). So called for its large spiny leaves. A conventionalized form of the leaf is used in Corinthian capitals.[acanthus etymology, acanthus origin, 英语词源]
coelacanth (n.): 1857, from Modern Latin Coelacanthus (genus name, 1839, Agassiz), from Greek koilos "hollow" (from PIE root *kel- (2); see cell) + akantha "spine" (see acrid). So called from the hollow fin rays supporting the tail. Known only as a fossil, the most recent one from 70 million years ago, until discovered living in the sea off the east coast of South Africa Dec. 22, 1938. The specimen was described by Marjorie Courtney-Latimer, who wrote about it to S.African ichthyologist J.L.B. Smith.
I stared and stared, at first in puzzlement. I did not know any fish of our own, or indeed of any seas like that; it looked more like a lizard. And then a bomb seemed to burst in my brain, and beyond that sketch and the paper of the letter, I was looking at a series of fishy creatures that flashed up as on a screen, fishes no longer here, fishes that had lived in dim past ages gone, and of which only fragmentary remains in rock are known. [J.L.B. Smith, "Old Fourlegs: The Story of the Coelacanth," 1956]
pyracanth (n.): thorny shrub of the apple family, 1660s, from Modern Latin genus name Pyracantha, from Greek pyrakantha (Dioscorides), a plant named but not described, from pyr "fire," from PIE root *paəwr- "fire" (see fire (n.)) + akantha "thorn, thorny plant," from PIE root *ak- "sharp, pointed" (see acrid).
acanthine: "Decorated with representations of acanthus leaves; resembling the leaves or branches of the acanthus", Mid 18th cent.; earliest use found in Chambers's Cyclopaedia. From classical Latin acanthinus of bear's foot, (of leaves) resembling those of bear's foot, (of garments) of or made from some species of cotton plant, or its etymon ancient Greek ἀκάνθινος made of shittim wood, in Hellenistic Greek also made of thorns (New Testament), thorny, (of cloths) made of cotton thistle from ἄκανθος + -ινος.
tragacanth: "A white or reddish plant gum, used in the food, textile, and pharmaceutical industries", Late 16th century: from French tragacante, via Latin from Greek tragakantha 'goat's thorn', from tragos 'goat' (because it is browsed by goats) + akantha 'thorn' (referring to the shrub's spines).
acanthosis: "Disease of the skin affecting the prickle-cell layer (stratum spinosum) of the epidermis; hyperplasia of prickle cells; an instance of this", Late 19th cent. From acantho- + -osis, after German Akanthose.
monacanthid: "Of or relating to the family Monacanthidae (sometimes included within the family Balistidae), which comprises the filefishes", Late 19th cent.; earliest use found in The Century Dictionary.
acanthocladous: "Having spiny branches; ( figurative ) prickly, fraught", Mid 19th cent.; earliest use found in Asa Gray (1810–1888), botanist. From acantho- + ancient Greek κλάδος shoot + -ous.
acanthaceous: "Of the nature of an acanthus; (in later use) specifically belonging to or characteristic of the family Acanthaceae, comprising chiefly tropical shrubs and vines and having the genus Acanthus as the type genus", Mid 18th cent.; earliest use found in Ephraim Chambers (?1680–1740), encyclopaedist. From post-classical Latin acanthaceus + -ous.
Acanthocephala: "A small phylum of parasitic invertebrates that comprises the thorny-headed worms", Modern Latin (plural), from acantho- 'thornlike' + Greek kephalē 'head'.