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accident [accident 词源字典]: accident: [14] Etymologically, an accident is simply ‘something which happens’ – ‘an event’. That was what the word originally meant in English, and it was only subsequently that the senses ‘something which happens by chance’ and ‘mishap’ developed. It comes from the Latin verb cadere ‘fall’ (also the source of such diverse English words as case, decadent, and deciduous).

The addition of the prefix ad- ‘to’ produced accidere, literally ‘fall to’, hence ‘happen to’. Its present participle was used as an adjective in the Latin phrase rēs accidēns ‘thing happening’, and accidēns soon took on the role of a noun on its own, passing (in its stem form accident-) into Old French and thence into English.
=> case, decadent, deciduous[accident etymology, accident origin, 英语词源]
evident: evident: [14] Something that is evident is literally something that can be ‘seen’. The word comes via Old French from Latin ēvidēns ‘clear, obvious’, a compound formed from the intensive prefix ex- and the present participle of videre ‘see’ (source of English vision). The Latin derivative ēvidentia (from which English gets evidence [13]) meant originally ‘distinction’ and later ‘proof’, basis of the main current sense of evidence, ‘testimony which establishes the facts’.
=> view, vision
identity: identity: [16] The historical meaning of identity is best preserved in its derivative identical [17] – ‘the same’. For its ultimate source was Latin idem ‘same’, a pronoun (formed from id ‘it, that one’ with the suffix -dem) used in English since the 17th century for referring to a previously cited author or text. This formed the basis of late Latin identitās, which meant literally ‘sameness’; the main meaning of its English descendant identity, ‘individuality, set of definitive characteristics’, arose from the notion of something always being the same or always being itself (rather than something else).
incident: incident: [15] An incident is literally that which ‘befalls’. In common with accident and occident, and a wide range of other English words, from cadaver to occasion, it comes ultimately from Latin cadere ‘fall’. This was combined with the prefix in- ‘on’ to produce incidere ‘fall on’, hence ‘befall, happen to’. Its present participial stem incident- passed into English either directly or via French.

The use of a word that literally means ‘fall’ to denote the concept of ‘happening’ is quite a common phenomenon. It occurs also in befall and chance, and operates in other languages than English; Welsh digwydd ‘happen’, for instance, is derived from cwyddo ‘fall’.
=> accident, cadence, case, occasion
president: president: [14] A president is etymologically simply someone who ‘presides’. The word comes via Old French president from Latin praesidēns, the present participle of praesidēre ‘superintend’ (it literally meant ‘sit in front of’ – it was formed from the prefix prae- ‘before’ and sedēre ‘sit’ – and it has given English preside [17]). Another Latin derivative was the noun praesidium ‘garrison, fortification’, which English has acquired via Russian prezídium as presidium [20].
=> preside, presidium, sit
strident: strident: [17] Strident was adopted from the present participle of Latin strīdēre ‘make a harsh noise, creak’. This also produced English stridulate [19], which denotes the sound made by grasshoppers.
=> stridulate
trident: trident: see tooth
accident (n.): late 14c., "an occurrence, incident, event," from Old French accident (12c.), from Latin accidentem (nominative accidens), present participle of accidere "happen, fall out, fall upon," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + cadere "fall" (see case (n.1)). Meaning grew from "something that happens, an event," to "something that happens by chance," then "mishap." Philosophical sense "non-essential characteristic of a thing" is late 14c. Meaning "unplanned child" is attested by 1932.
accidental (adj.): late 14c., "non-essential," from Old French accidentel or directly from Medieval Latin accidentalis, from Latin accidentem (see accident). Meaning "outside the normal course of nature" is from early 15c.; that of "coming by chance" is from 1570s.
accidental (n.): late 14c., "non-essential quality," from accidental (adj.). The musical sense is from 1868.
accidentally (adv.): late 14c., "non-essentially," also "unnaturally," from accidental + -ly (2). Meaning "unintentionally" is recorded from 1580s; phrase accidentally on purpose is recorded from 1862.
coincident (adj.): late 16c., from French coincident, from coincider (see coincide).
coincidental (adj.): c. 1800, from coincident + -al (1).
coincidentally (adv.): 1837, from coincidental + -ly (2).
coincidently: 1620s, from coincident + -ly (2).
confident (adj.): 1570s, "self-reliant, sure of oneself," from Middle French confident, from Latin confidentem (nominative confidens) "firmly trusting, reliant, self-confident, bold, daring," present participle of confidere (see confidence). Related: Confidently.
confidente (n.): see confidant.
confidential (adj.): 1759, from Latin confidentia (see confidence) + -al (1). Related: Confidentiality; confidentially.
diffident (adj.): mid-15c., from Latin diffidentem (nominative diffidens), present participle of diffidere (see diffidence). Related: Diffidently.
dissident (adj.): 1530s, from Latin dissidentem (nominative dissidens), present participle of dissidere "to be remote; disagree, be removed from," literally "to sit apart," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + sedere "to sit" (see sedentary).
dissident (n.): 1766, in reference to Protestants, from dissident (adj.). In the political sense first used 1940, coinciding with the rise of 20c. totalitarian systems, especially with reference to the Soviet Union.
evident (adj.): late 14c., from Old French evident and directly from Latin evidentem (nominative evidens) "perceptible, clear, obvious, apparent" from ex- "fully, out of" (see ex-) + videntem (nominative videns), present participle of videre "to see" (see vision).
evidently (adv.): late 14c., from evident + -ly (2).
identical (adj.): 1610s, as a term in logic, from Medieval Latin identicus "the same," from Late Latin identitas "identity, sameness," ultimately from comb. form of Latin idem "the same" (from id "it, that one;" see id) + demonstrative suffix -dem. General sense of "being the same or very similar" is from 1630s. Replaced Middle English idemptical (late 15c.), from Medieval Latin idemptitas "identity," from Latin idem. Related: Identically.
identifiable (adj.): 1804, from identify + -able. Related: Identifiably.
identification (n.): 1640s, "treating of a thing as the same as another," from French identification, probably from identifier (see identify). Sense of "becoming or feeling oneself one with another" is from 1857. Sense of "determination of identity" is from 1859. Meaning "object or document which marks identity" is from 1947 (short for identification tag, card, etc.).
identifier (n.): "thing that identifies," 1870, agent noun from identify.
identify (v.): 1640s, "regard as the same," from French identifier, from identité (see identity). Sense of "recognize" first recorded 1769. Meaning "make one (with), associate (oneself)" is from 1780. Sense of "serve as means of identification" is attested by 1886. Related: Identified; identifying.
identity (n.): c. 1600, "sameness, oneness," from Middle French identité (14c.), from Late Latin (5c.) identitatem (nominative identitas) "sameness," from ident-, comb. form of Latin idem (neuter) "the same" (see identical); abstracted from identidem "over and over," from phrase idem et idem. [For discussion of Latin formation, see entry in OED.] Earlier form of the word in English was idemptitie (1560s), from Medieval Latin idemptitas. Term identity crisis first recorded 1954. Identity theft attested from 1995.
improvident (adj.): 1510s, from im- "not" + provident. It retains a stronger connection with the "provide" aspect of Latin providere. Related: Improvidently.
incident (n.): early 15c., "something which occurs casually in connection with something else," from Middle French incident and directly from Latin incidentem (nominative incidens), present participle of incidere "happen, befall," from in- "on" + -cidere, comb. form of cadere "to fall" (see case (n.1)). Sense of "an occurrence viewed as a separate circumstance" is from mid-15c. Meaning "event that might trigger a crisis or political unrest" first attested 1913.
incident (adj.): "conducive (to), contributing (to)," early 15c., from Middle French incident (adj.) or directly from Latin incidens, present participle of incidere (see incident (n.)).
incidental (adj.): "casual, occasional," 1610s, from Medieval Latin incidentalis, from incidens (see incident (n.)). Incidentals (n.) "'occasional' expenses, etc.," is attested by 1707.
incidentally (adv.): 1520s, "by the way, casually;" see incidental + -ly (2). Sense of "as a new but related point" attested by 1925.
misidentification (n.): 1858, from mis- (1) + identification.
misidentify (v.): 1895, from mis- (1) + identify. Related: Misidentified; misidentifying.
non-resident (n.): also nonresident, early 15c., from non- + resident.
Occident (n.): late 14c., "western part" (of the heavens or earth), from Old French occident (12c.) or directly from Latin occidentem (nominative occidens) "western sky, sunset, part of the sky in which the sun sets," noun use of adjective meaning "setting," from present participle of occidere "fall down, go down" (see occasion (n.)).
occidental (adj.): c. 1400, from Old French occidental (14c.) and directly from Latin occidentalis "western," from occidentem (see occident). As a capitalized noun meaning "a Western person" (opposed to Oriental) from 1857.
over-confident (adj.): 1610s, from over- + confident. Related: Overconfidently.
president (n.): late 14c., "appointed governor of a province; chosen leader of a body of persons," from Old French president and directly from Latin praesidentum (nominative praesidens) "president, governor," noun use of present participle of praesidere "to act as head or chief" (see preside).

In Middle English of heads of religious houses, hospitals, colleges and universities. First use for "chief executive officer of a republic" is in U.S. Constitution (1787), from earlier American use for "officer in charge of the Continental Congress" (1774), a sense derived from that of "chosen head of a meeting or group of persons," which is from Middle English. It had been used of chief officers of banks from 1781, of individual colonies since 1608 (originally Virginia) and heads of colleges since mid-15c. Slang shortening prez is recorded from 1883. Fem. form presidentess is attested from 1763.
presidential (adj.): c. 1600, "pertaining to a president," from Medieval Latin praesidentialis, from praesidentia "office of a president" (see presidency). Related: Presidentially.
provident (adj.): c. 1400, from Latin providentem (nominative providens) "foreseeing, prudent," present participle of providere "to foresee" (see provide).
providential (adj.): 1610s, "pertaining to foresifght" (implied in providentially); 1640s as "pertaining to divine providence," from Latin providentia (see providence) + -al (1). Meaning "by divine interposition" is recorded from 1719.
resident (n.): mid-15c., "an inhabitant, one who resides," from resident (adj.). Meaning "medical graduate in practice in a hospital as training" first attested 1892, American English.
resident (adj.): late 14c., "dwelling, residing," from Old French resident and directly from Latin residentem (nominative residens), present participle of residere "to sit down, settle" (see reside).
residential (adj.): 1650s, "serving as a residence," from resident (n.) + -ial. Meaning "having to do with housing" is from 1856.
self-confident (adj.): 1610s, from self- + confident. Related: self-confidently.
self-evident (adj.): 1680s, from self- + evident. First attested in Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding." Related: Self-evidently.
strident (adj.): 1650s, from French strident (16c.) and directly from Latin stridentem (nominative stridens), present participle of stridere "utter an inarticulate sound, grate, screech," from PIE *(s)trei-, possibly of imitative origin (cognates: Greek trismos "a grinding, scream"). Related: Stridently; stridence; stridency.