six: [OE] The Indo-European ancestor of six was *seks, which also produced Latin sex (source of English sextant, sextuplet, etc), Greek héx, Welsh chwech, Russian shest’, etc. The word’s Germanic relatives include German sechs, Dutch zes, and Swedish and Danish sex. => sextant
six (n.)
Old English siex, six, sex, from Proto-Germanic *sekhs (cognates: Old Saxon and Danish seks, Old Norse, Swedish, and Old Frisian sex, Middle Dutch sesse, Dutch zes, Old High German sehs, German sechs, Gothic saihs), from PIE *s(w)eks (cognates: Sanskrit sas, Avestan kshvash, Persian shash, Greek hex, Latin sex, Old Church Slavonic sesti, Polish sze??, Russian shesti, Lithuanian szeszi, Old Irish se, Welsh chwech).
Six-shooter, usually a revolver with six chambers, is first attested 1844; six-pack of beverage containers is from 1952, of abdominal muscles by 1995. Six of one and half-a-dozen of the other "little difference" is recorded from 1833. Six-figure in reference to hundreds of thousands (of dollars, etc.) is from 1840. Six feet under "dead" is from 1942.
Phrase at sixes and sevens originally was "hazarding all one's chances," first in Chaucer, perhaps from dicing (the original form was on six and seven); it could be a corruption of on cinque and sice, using the French names (which were common in Middle English) for the highest numbers on the dice. Meaning "at odds, in disagreement or confusion" is from 1785, perhaps via a notion of "left unsettled."
雙語例句
1. They identified six plants as having potential for development into pharmaceutical drugs.
他們驗明6種植物有可能提煉出藥物麻醉劑。
來自柯林斯例句
2. The election was held six months ahead of schedule.
選舉提前了6個月舉行。
來自柯林斯例句
3. Their countries had been at war for nearly six weeks.
他們的國家陷入戰爭狀態已將近6個星期了。
來自柯林斯例句
4. Any property which does not sell within six weeks is overpriced.
任何房產如果6周內還賣不出去就說明定價過高。
來自柯林斯例句
5. She bought Ann two bras and six pairs of knickers.