describe词源

英文词源

describe

describe: [15] To describe something is literally to ‘write it down’. The word comes from Latin dēscrībere, a compound verb formed from the prefix dē- ‘down’ and scrībere ‘write’ (source of English scribe, script, etc). English originally borrowed it via Old French descrivre in the 13th century as descrive, in which the metaphorical sense ‘give an account of’ had already developed, and this was grafted on to the Latin verb when it was reborrowed directly in the 15th century. The derivative nondescript was coined (originally as a term in biological classification) in the 17th century.
=> ascribe, scribe, script

describe (v.)

early 13c., descriven, from Old French descrivre, descrire (13c.), from Latin describere "to write down, copy; sketch, represent" (see description). Reconstructed with Latin spelling 16c. Related: Describable; described, describes, describing.