devastateyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[devastate 词源字典]
devastate: [17] Etymologically as well as semantically, devastate is related to ‘lay waste’. It comes from the past participle of Latin dēvāstāre, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix dē- and vāstāre ‘lay waste’. This was a derivative of vāstus ‘waste’, source of English waste.
=> vast, waste[devastate etymology, devastate origin, 英语词源]
devastate (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1630s, perhaps a back-formation from devastation. Apparently not common until 19c.; earlier verb form devast is attested from 1530s, from Middle French devaster. Related: devastated; devastating.
devastating (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1630s, present participle adjective from devastate. Trivial use by 1889.
devastation (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
mid-15c., from Middle French dévastation, from Late Latin devastationem (nominative devastatio), from past participle stem of Latin devastare "lay waste completely," from de- "completely" (see de-) + vastare "lay waste," from vastus "empty, desolate" (see waste (v.)).