broad的词源

英文词源

broad

broad: [OE] Broad’s close relatives are widespread in the Germanic languages (German breit, for example, Dutch breed, and Swedish bred), pointing to a prehistoric Germanic ancestor *braithaz, but no trace of the word is found in any non-Germanic Indo-European language. The original derived noun was brede, which was superseded in the 16th century by breadth. The 20th-century American slang noun use ‘woman’ may come from an obsolete American compound broadwife, short for abroadwife, meaning ‘woman away from her husband’; this was a term applied to female slaves in relation to their new ‘masters’.
=> breadth

broad (adj.)

Old English brad "broad, flat, open, extended," from Proto-Germanic *braithaz (cognates: Old Frisian bred, Old Norse breiðr, Dutch breed, German breit, Gothic brouþs), which is of unknown origin. Not found outside Germanic languages. No clear distinction in sense from wide. Related: Broadly. Broad-brim as a style of hat (1680s, broad-brimmed) in 18c.-19c. suggested "Quaker male" from their characteristic attire.

broad (n.)

"woman," slang, 1911, perhaps suggestive of broad (adj.) hips, but it also might trace to American English abroadwife, word for a woman (often a slave) away from her husband. Earliest use of the slang word suggests immorality or coarse, low-class women. Because of this negative association, and the rise of women's athletics, the track and field broad jump was changed to the long jump c. 1967.

中文词源

broad：宽的

词源不详。可能来自break, 分开。比较wide, 宽，来自PIE *wi, 分开，原义见widow, 寡妇。

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：broad 词源，broad 含义。

broad：宽广的，广阔的；广义的，广泛的；宽宏的，豁达的

同源词：breadth