- gent (n.)
[gent 词源字典]
- colloquial shortening of gentleman, by 17c. (in early uses it is difficult to distinguish the shortening from the common abbreviation gent.), which is perhaps the origin of this use. "Early in the nineteenth century the word was colloquial and slightly jocular; about 1840 its use came to be regarded as a mark of low breeding" [OED].[gent etymology, gent origin, 英语词源]