balance: [13] The underlying etymological meaning of balance is of a weighing apparatus with ‘two pans’ for holding things. In Latin this was a lībra bilanx, literally ‘scales with two pans’ – bilanx being compounded from bi- ‘two’ and lanx ‘plate, pan’. Bilanx passed, in its stem from bilanc-, via Vulgar Latin *bilancia into Old French balance, the source of the English word.
balance (n.)
early 13c., "apparatus for weighing," from Old French balance (12c.) "balance, scales for weighing," also in the figurative sense; from Medieval Latin bilancia, from Late Latin bilanx, from Latin (libra) bilanx "(scale) having two pans," possibly from Latin bis "twice" + lanx "dish, plate, scale of a balance." The accounting sense is from 1580s; the meaning "general harmony between parts" is from 1732; sense of "physical equipoise" is from 1660s. Balance of power in the geopolitical sense is from 1701. Many figurative uses (such as hang in the balance, late 14c.), are from Middle English image of the scales in the hands of personified Justice, Fortune, Fate, etc.
balance (v.)
1570s, "be equal with," from balance (n.). Meaning "bring or keep in equilibrium" is from 1630s; that of "keep oneself in equilibrium" is from 1833. Of accounts, from 1580s. Related: Balanced; balancing. Balanced meal, diet, etc. is from 1908.
雙語例句
1. He remains the anchor of the country's fragile political balance.
他仍然是維系該國脆弱的政治平衡的支柱。
來自柯林斯例句
2. He figured up the balance in their checking account.
他算出了他們活期存款賬戶上的余額總和。
來自柯林斯例句
3. I'd like to check the balance in my account please.
請查一下我的賬戶余額。
來自柯林斯例句
4. A balance is achieved in the painting between orderliness and unpredictability.
這幅畫作在條理分明和出人意表之間取得了平衡。
來自柯林斯例句
5. The total of debits must balance the total of credits.