orchid: [19] Greek órkhis meant ‘testicle’ (a sense preserved in English orchitis ‘inflammation of the testicles’ [18]). The tuberous roots of the orchid supposedly resemble testicles (hence the old dialect name ballock’s-grass for various sorts of wild orchid), and so the plant was named órkhis. The Latin form orchis was taken by botanists of the 16th and 17th centuries as the basis for the plant’s scientific name (they smuggled an inauthentic d into it, under the mistaken impression that its stem form was orchid-), and it passed from there into English.
orchid (n.)
1845, introduced by John Lindley in "School Botanty," from Modern Latin Orchide? (Linnaeus), the plant's family name, from Latin orchis, a kind of orchid, from Greek orkhis (genitive orkheos) "orchid," literally "testicle," from PIE *orghi-, the standard root for "testicle" (cognates: Avestan erezi "testicles," Armenian orjik, Middle Irish uirgge, Irish uirge "testicle," Lithuanian erzilas "stallion"). The plant so called because of the shape of its root. Earlier in English in Latin form, orchis (1560s), and in Middle English it was ballockwort (c. 1300; see ballocks). Marred by extraneous -d- in an attempt to extract the Latin stem.
雙語例句
1. the exotic blooms of the orchid
奇異的蘭花
來自《權威詞典》
2. There are over 35 000 species of orchid distributed throughout the world.
有35,000多種蘭花分布在世界各地.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
3. The orchid is a class of plant which I have never tried to grow.
蘭花這類植物我從來沒種過.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
4. Looking up at the eaves, Orchid muttered: " Why isn't Spring Maiden back yet? "
蘭花向天井檐上張一張, 自言自語地說: “ 青姑娘還不回來 呢 !
來自漢英文學 - 散文英譯
5. Gripping my sleeve Ahyuan stared into Orchid's eyes.