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abstruse [abstruse 词源字典]: abstruse: [16] It is not clear whether English borrowed abstruse from French abstrus(e) or directly from Latin abstrūsus, but the ultimate source is the Latin form. It is the past participle of the verb abstrūdere, literally ‘thrust’ (trūdere) ‘away’ (ab). (Trūdere contributed other derivatives to English, including extrude and intrude, and it is related to threat.) The original, literal meaning of abstruse was ‘concealed’, but the metaphorical ‘obscure’ is just as old in English.
[abstruse etymology, abstruse origin, 英语词源]
bridge: bridge: [OE] A distant relative of bridge, Old Slavic bruvino ‘beam’, coupled with the meaning of the cognate Old Norse bryggja ‘gangway’, suggest that the underlying etymological meaning of the word is not ‘spanning structure’ but ‘road or structure made of logs’. The Norse word, incidentally, produced the Scottish and northern English brig ‘bridge’.

The card game bridge is first unambiguously mentioned in English in the 1880s, and its name has no connection with the ‘spanning’ bridge. The earliest recorded form of the word is biritch. Its source has never been satisfactorily explained, but since a game resembling bridge is known to have been played for many centuries in the Middle East, it could well be that the name originated in that area.

One suggestion put forward is that it came from an unrecorded Turkish *bir-ü, literally ‘one-three’ (one hand being exposed during the game while the other three are concealed).
hell: hell: [OE] Etymologically, hell is a ‘hidden place’. It goes back ultimately to Indo-European *kel- ‘cover, hide’, which was contributed an extraordinary number of words to English, including apocalypse, cell, cellar, conceal, helmet, hull ‘pod’, occult, and possibly colour and holster. Its Germanic descendant was *khel-, *khal-, whose derivatives included *khallō and *khaljō.

The first became modern English hall, the second modern English hell – so both hall and hell were originally ‘concealed or covered places’, although in very different ways: the hall with a roof, hell with at least six feet of earth. Related Germanic forms include German hölle, Dutch hel, and Swedish helvete (in which vete means ‘punishment’).
=> apocalypse, cell, conceal, hall, helmet, hull, occult
nutmeg: nutmeg: [13] Etymologically, the nutmeg is the ‘musk-flavoured nut’. The word originated as a partial anglicization of Anglo-Norman *nois mugue, which came via Old French nois muguede from Vulgar Latin *nuce muscāta, literally ‘musky nut’. This ‘musky’ connection, now effectively concealed in English, is still apparent in, for example, German muskatnuss, Swedish muskotnöt, and French noix muscade.
=> musk, nut
abdomen (n.): 1540s, "belly fat," from Latin abdomen "belly," which is of unknown origin, perhaps from abdere "conceal," with a sense of "concealment of the viscera," or else "what is concealed" by proper dress. De Vaan, however, finds this derivation "unfounded." Purely anatomical sense is from 1610s. Zoological sense of "posterior division of the bodies of arthropods" first recorded 1788.
abstruse (adj.): 1590s, from Middle French abstrus (16c.) or directly from Latin abstrusus "hidden, concealed, secret," past participle of abstrudere "conceal," literally "to thrust away," from ab- "away" (see ab-) + trudere "to thrust, push" (see extrusion). Related: Abstrusely; abstruseness.
ace (n.): c. 1300, "one at dice," from Old French as "one at dice," from Latin as "a unit, one, a whole, unity;" also the name of a small Roman coin ("originally one pound of copper; reduced by depreciation to half an ounce" [Lewis]), perhaps originally Etruscan and related to Greek eis "one" (from PIE *sem- "one, as one"), or directly from the Greek word.

In English, it meant the side of the die with only one mark before it meant the playing card with one pip (1530s). Because this was the lowest roll at dice, ace was used metaphorically in Middle English for "bad luck" or "something of no value;" but as the ace is often the highest playing card, the extended senses based on "excellence, good quality" arose 18c. as card-playing became popular. Ace in the hole in the figurative sense of "concealed advantage" is attested from 1904, from crooked stud poker deals.

Meaning "outstanding pilot" dates from 1917 (technically, in World War I aviators' jargon, one who has brought down 10 enemy planes, though originally in reference to 5 shot down), from French l'ace (1915), which, according to Bruce Robertson (ed.) "Air Aces of the 1914-1918 War" was used in prewar French sporting publications for "top of the deck" boxers, cyclists, etc. Sports meaning of "point scored" (1819) led to that of "unreturnable serve" (1889).
arcana (n.): "hidden things, mysteries," 1590s, a direct adoption of the Latin plural of arcanum "a secret, a mystery," from neuter of adjective arcanus "secret, hidden, private, concealed" (see arcane). Occasionally mistaken for a singular and pluralized as arcanas because arcana is far more common than arcanum.
arcane (adj.): 1540s, from Latin arcanus "secret, hidden, private, concealed," from arcere "close up, enclose, contain," from arca "chest, box, place for safe-keeping," from PIE *ark- "to hold, contain, guard" (cognates: Greek arkos "defense," arkein "to ward off;" Armenian argel "obstacle;" Lithuanian raktas "key," rakinti "to shut, lock").
barefaced (adj.): 1580s, "with face uncovered or shaven;" see bare (adj.) + face (n.). Thus, "unconcealed" (c. 1600), and, in a bad sense, "shameless" (1670s). Compare effrontery. The half-French bare-vis (adj.) conveyed the same sense in Middle English.
bridge (n.2): card game, 1886 (perhaps as early as 1843), an alteration of biritch, but the source and meaning of that are obscure. "Probably of Levantine origin, since some form of the game appears to have been long known in the Near East" [OED]. One guess is that it represents Turkish *bir-üç "one-three," because one hand is exposed and three are concealed. The game also was known early as Russian whist (attested in English from 1839).
bug (v.2): "to annoy, irritate," 1949, probably from bug (n.) and a reference to insect pests. Sense of "equip with a concealed microphone" is from 1919. Related: Bugged; bugging.
close (adj.): late 14c., "strictly confined," also "secret," from Old French clos "confined; concealed, secret; taciturn" (12c.), from Latin clausus "close, reserved," past participle adjective from claudere "stop up, fasten, shut" (see close (v.)); main sense shifting to "near" (late 15c.) by way of "closing the gap between two things." Related: Closely.

Meaning "narrowly confined, pent up" is late 14c. Meaning "near" in a figurative sense, of persons, from 1560s. Meaning "full of attention to detail" is from 1660s. Of contests, from 1855. Close call is from 1866, in a quotation in an anecdote from 1863, possibly a term from the American Civil War; close shave in the figurative sense is 1820, American English. Close range is from 1814. Close-minded is attested from 1818. Close-fisted "penurious, miserly" is from c. 1600.
conceal (v.): early 14c., concelen, from Old French conceler "to hide, conceal, dissimulate," from Latin concelare "to hide," from com-, intensive prefix (see com-), + celare "to hide," from PIE root *kel- (2) "to cover, conceal" (see cell). Replaced Old English deagan. Related: Concealed; concealing.
crypto-: before vowels crypt-, word-forming element meaning "secret" or "hidden," used in forming English words since at least 1760, from Latinized form of Greek kryptos "hidden, concealed, secret" (see crypt; the Greek comb. form was krypho-). Crypto-fascist is attested from 1937; crypto-communist from 1946.
debug (v.): 1945, of machine systems, from de- + bug (n.) "glitch, defect in a machine." Meaning "to remove a concealed microphone" is from 1964. Related: Debugged; debugging.
default (n.): early 13c., "offense, crime, sin," later (late 13c.) "failure, failure to act," from Old French defaute (12c.) "fault, defect, failure, culpability, lack, privation," from Vulgar Latin *defallita "a deficiency or failure," past participle of *defallere, from Latin de- "away" (see de-) + fallere "to deceive, to cheat; to put wrong, to lead astray, cause to be mistaken; to escape notice of, be concealed from" (see fail (v.)). The financial sense is first recorded 1858; the computing sense is from 1966.
dern (adj.): "secret, hidden" (obsolete), from Old English derne "concealed, secret, dark," from West Germanic *darnjaz (cognates: Old Saxon derni, Old Frisian dern "concealed, dark," Old High German tarni "secret, concealed, veiled").

As a verb, "to conceal," from Old English diernan "to hide." Compare Old High German tarnjan "to conceal, hide;" German Tarnkappe, Tarnhelm "magical cap or helmet which turns the wearer invisible or allows him to assume any form." Related to dark (adj.). French ternir "to tarnish, to dull" apparently is a Germanic loan-word.
hell (n.): Old English hel, helle, "nether world, abode of the dead, infernal regions," from Proto-Germanic *haljo "the underworld" (cognates: f. Old Frisian helle, Dutch hel, Old Norse hel, German Hölle, Gothic halja "hell") "the underworld," literally "concealed place" (compare Old Norse hellir "cave, cavern"), from PIE *kel- (2) "to cover, conceal" (see cell).

The English word may be in part from Old Norse Hel (from Proto-Germanic *halija "one who covers up or hides something"), in Norse mythology the name of Loki's daughter, who rules over the evil dead in Niflheim, the lowest of all worlds (nifl "mist"). Transfer of a pagan concept and word to a Christian idiom. In Middle English, also of the Limbus Patrum, place where the Patriarchs, Prophets, etc. awaited the Atonement. Used in the KJV for Old Testament Hebrew Sheol and New Testament Greek Hades, Gehenna. Used figuratively for "state of misery, any bad experience" since at least late 14c. As an expression of disgust, etc., first recorded 1670s.

Expression Hell in a handbasket is attested by 1867, in a context implying use from a few years before, and the notion of going to Heaven in a handbasket is from 1853, with a sense of "easy passage" to the destination. Hell or high water (1874) apparently is a variation of between the devil and the deep blue sea. To wish someone would go to hell is in Shakespeare ("Merchant of Venice"). Snowball's chance in hell "no chance" is from 1931; till hell freezes over "never" is from 1832. To ride hell for leather is from 1889, originally with reference to riding on horseback. Hell on wheels is said to be from 1843 in DAS; popularity dates from 1869 in reference to the temporary workers' towns along the U.S. transcontinental railroad and their vices.
lanthanum (n.): metallic rare earth element, 1841, coined in Modern Latin by Swedish chemist and mineralogist Carl Gustav Mosander (1797-1858), who discovered it in 1839, from Greek lanthanein "to lie hidden, escape notice," from PIE root *ladh- "to be hidden" (see latent). So called because the element was "concealed" in rare minerals.
latency (n.): 1630s, "condition of being concealed," from latent + -cy. Meaning "delay between stimulus and response" is from 1882; computer sense (latency time) is from 1954.
latent (adj.): mid-15c., "concealed, secret," from Latin latentem (nominative latens) "lying hid, secret, unknown," present participle of latere "to lie hidden," from PIE *laidh-, from root *la- "to be hidden" (cognates: Greek lethe "forgetfulness, oblivion," Old Church Slavonic lajati "to lie in wait for"). Meaning "dormant" is from 1680s.
Lima: Peruvian capital, founded 1535 by Pizarro, from Spanish corruption of Quechua (Inca) Rimak, name of a god and his temple, from rima "to speak" (perhaps a reference to priests who spoke from concealed places in statues of the gods).
occult (adj.): 1530s, "secret, not divulged," from Middle French occulte and directly from Latin occultus "hidden, concealed, secret," past participle of occulere "cover over, conceal," from ob "over" (see ob-) + a verb related to celare "to hide," from PIE root *kel- (2) "to cover, conceal" (see cell). Meaning "not apprehended by the mind, beyond the range of understanding" is from 1540s. The association with the supernatural sciences (magic, alchemy, astrology, etc.) dates from 1630s.
pert (adj.): c. 1300 (implied in pertly), "evident, unconcealed," shortened form of Middle English apert "open, frank," from Old French apert, from Latin apertus, past participle of aperire "to open" (see overt). Sense of "saucy, bold" first recorded late 14c. Less pejorative meaning "lively, brisk, in good spirits" (c. 1500) survives in U.S. dialectal peart (with Middle English alternative spelling). Related: Pertness.
pitfall (n.): c. 1300, "concealed hole," a type of animal trap, from pit (n.1) + fall (n.). Extended sense of "any hidden danger" is first recorded early 15c.
secret (n.): late 14c., from Latin secretus "set apart, withdrawn; hidden, concealed, private," past participle of secernere "to set apart, part, divide; exclude," from se- "without, apart," properly "on one's own" (see se-) + cernere "separate" (see crisis).

As an adjective from late 14c., from French secret, adjective use of noun. Open secret is from 1828. Secret agent first recorded 1715; secret service is from 1737; secret weapon is from 1936.
cryptobranchiate: "Designating aquatic invertebrates with concealed gills, especially certain nudibranch molluscs that are able to completely retract their gills; of or relating to such invertebrates", Mid 19th cent.; earliest use found in Richard Owen (1804–1892), comparative anatomist and palaeontologist. From crypto- + -branchiate. With sense 1 compare French cryptobranche.
cryptosporidium: "A parasitic coccidian protozoan found in the intestinal tract of many vertebrates, where it sometimes causes disease", Early 20th century: from crypto- 'concealed' + modern Latin sporidium 'small spore'.
nudely: "Barely, simply, plainly; in an unclothed or unconcealed state", Mid 17th cent.; earliest use found in John Donne (1572–1631), poet and Church of England clergyman.
acaulescent: "Apparently stemless; having a very short stem, or a stem concealed in the ground", Early 19th cent.; earliest use found in American Journal of Science. From scientific Latin acaulescent-, acaulescens from a- + caulescent-, caulescens.
cryptomeria: "A tall conical coniferous tree with long, curved, spirally arranged leaves and short cones. Native to China and Japan, it is grown for timber in Japan", Modern Latin, from crypto- 'hidden' + Greek meros 'part' (because the seeds are concealed by scales).