sterile: [16] Sterile is a word of ancient ancestry, which goes right back to the prehistoric Indo- European base *ster- (source also of Greek stériphos and Gothic stairō ‘infertile’). The Latin descendant of the base was sterilis, acquired by English via French stérile.
sterile (adj.)
mid-15c., "barren," from Middle French stérile "not producing fruit," from Latin sterilis "barren, unproductive, unfruitful; unrequited; unprofitable," from PIE *ster- (1) "stiff, rigid, firm, strong" (see stereo-). Also see torpor. Originally in English with reference to soil; of persons (chiefly females), from 1530s. The sense of "sterilized, free from living germs" is first recorded 1877.
中文解释
1. *ster- / *star- "stiff, rigid" => stare.2. => look fixedly at, look at sb / sth stiffly or rigidly.3. *ster- / *star- "stiff, rigid" => developed figurative sense "sterile, barren".4. *ster- / *star- => *ster- + -ile => sterile.5. => barren, unproductive, not producing fruit.
实用例句
1. Too much time has been wasted in sterile debate.
在毫无新意的辩论上已经浪费了太多时间。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Urine is sterile.
尿液是无菌的。
来自柯林斯例句
3. George was sterile.
乔治没有生育能力。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The room felt cold and sterile.
那房间让人觉得阴冷而没有生气。
来自《权威词典》
5. This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.