quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- pox[pox 词源字典]
- pox: [16] Pox originated as an alternation of pocks, the plural of pock [OE]. This originally denoted a ‘pustule’, and later the ‘scar left by such a pustule, pock-mark’. Pox used to be a common term for ‘syphilis’, but today it is mainly found in compounds such as chickenpox [18] (possibly a reference to the comparative mildness of the disease) and smallpox [16] (so called to distinguish it from the great pox, syphilis).
=> pock, pocket[pox etymology, pox origin, 英语词源] - pox (n.)
- late 15c., spelling alteration of pockes, plural of pocke (see pock (n.)). Especially (after c. 1500) of syphilis.