etymology
etymology — 名詞
- etymologysingular
- etymologiesplural
1. the field of knowledge that investigates where words come from, how they travell
詞源；詞源學
研究詞語來源的學問；也指個別詞語的歷史
the field of knowledge that investigates where words come from, how they travelled between languages, and the ways their forms and meanings have changed over time; also the origin story of any specific word
Professor Amina teaches etymology at the university, tracing words back to ancient Greek.
Amina 教授在大學教詞源學，追溯詞語的起源直至古希臘語。
teaches + etymology + at [institution]
Hiroshi looked up the etymology of 'tsunami' and learned it came from Japanese.
Hiroshi 查了「tsunami」的詞源，發現它來自日語。
look up the etymology of [word]
Zahara was surprised to learn that the etymology of 'salary' goes back to the Latin word for salt.
Zahara 驚訝地得知「salary」的詞源可以追溯到拉丁語中表示鹽的詞。
Kwame wrote a short paper on the etymology of several West African place names.
Kwame 寫了一篇關於幾個西非地名的詞源的短文。
Fatima finds etymology useful for remembering new vocabulary in her Spanish class.
Fatima 覺得詞源學對她在西班牙語課上記住新詞很有幫助。
- word origin
more informal; typically refers only to a specific word's history, not the academic field
- derivation
narrower term focusing on how a word was formed from earlier roots or affixes
- word history
close synonym, slightly more everyday in tone than 'etymology'
用法筆記
Uncountable when referring to the field of study; countable when referring to a specific word's origin story (you can say 'an etymology').