quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- subtile (adj.)
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[subtile 词源字典] - late 14c., "clever, dexterous, crafty; not dense, thin, rarefied," from Old French subtil (14c.), a learned Latinized reformation of earlier sotil (12c.), source of subtle (q.v.). Still used in some Bible translations in Gen. iii:1, and it survived after 17c. as a parallel formation to subtle in some material senses ("fine, delicate, thin").[subtile etymology, subtile origin, 英语词源]