candle: [OE] Candle is one of the earliest English borrowings from Latin. It probably arrived with Christianity at the end of the 6th century, and is first recorded in a gloss from around the year 700. Latin candēla was a derivative of the verb candēre ‘be white, glow’, also the source of English candid and related to incandescent and incense. Candelabrum [19] is a Latin derivative. The Christian feast of Candlemas [OE] (February 2) gets its name from the blessing of church candles on that day. => candelabrum, candid, incandescent, incense
candle (n.)
Old English candel "lamp, lantern, candle," an early ecclesiastical borrowing from Latin candela "a light, torch, candle made of tallow or wax," from candere "to shine," from PIE root *kand- "to glow, to shine, to shoot out light" (cognates: Sanskrit cand- "to give light, shine," candra- "shining, glowing, moon;" Greek kandaros "coal;" Welsh cann "white;" Middle Irish condud "fuel").
Candles were unknown in ancient Greece (where oil lamps sufficed), but common from early times among Romans and Etruscans. Candles on birthday cakes seems to have been originally a German custom. To hold a candle to originally meant "to help in a subordinate capacity," from the notion of an assistant or apprentice holding a candle for light while the master works (compare Old English taporberend "acolyte"). To burn the candle at both ends is recorded from 1730.
实用例句
1. The tramp produced a stump of candle from his deep pockets.
流浪汉从深口袋里掏出了一截蜡烛。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Under the pretence of lighting a candle, she evades him and disappears.
她假装点蜡烛，避开他消失了。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The light from my candle threw his elongated shadow on the walls.
我的烛光将他拉长的影子投射在墙上。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Another of his lucky finds was a pair of candle-holders.
他的另一个幸运发现是一对烛台。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Girls today can't hold a candle to the beauties of the Fifties.