robot: [20] Robot is a Czech contribution to English. It comes from robota ‘forced labour, drudgery’, a word related to German arbeit ‘work’. It was used by the Czech dramatist Karel ?apek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) 1920 for ‘mechanical people constructed to do menial tasks’. English acquired it via German robot, and the first record of it in an English text comes from 1923.
robot (n.)
1923, from English translation of 1920 play "R.U.R." ("Rossum's Universal Robots"), by Karel Capek (1890-1938), from Czech robotnik "slave," from robota "forced labor, compulsory service, drudgery," from robotiti "to work, drudge," from an Old Czech source akin to Old Church Slavonic rabota "servitude," from rabu "slave," from Old Slavic *orbu-, from PIE *orbh- "pass from one status to another" (see orphan). The Slavic word thus is a cousin to German Arbeit "work" (Old High German arabeit). According to Rawson the word was popularized by Karel Capek's play, "but was coined by his brother Josef (the two often collaborated), who used it initially in a short story."
雙語例句
1. They have docked a robot module alongside the orbiting space station.
他們已經(jīng)將一個自動操作艙與沿軌道運行的空間站并行對接上了。
來自柯林斯例句
2. They built a robot capable of understanding spoken commands.
他們制造了一個能懂口頭指令的機器人.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
3. She worked like a robot.
她工作起來如同一個機器人.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
4. The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.
機器人是現(xiàn)代工程技術(shù)的奇跡.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
5. Also from the Slavonic family of languages comes " robot " , a Czech word in origin.