來自拉丁短語rota dialis, daily wheel (rotate diurnal )，一種古代測太陽運轉的日晷，后用來指相關圓形物體。比較印度奧里薩邦Konark Sun Temple, 在入口處可見一巨大的日晷石雕，再往里依次是梳洗圖，勞作圖，性愛圖，即人一天的作息規律。
英文詞源
dial
dial: [15] The original application of the word dial in English is ‘sundial’. The evidence for its prehistory is patchy, but it is generally presumed to have come from medieval Latin diālis ‘daily’, a derivative of Latin diēs ‘day’, the underlying notion being that it records the passage of a 24- hour period.
dial (n.)
early 15c., "sundial," earlier "dial of a compass" (mid-14c.), apparently from Medieval Latin dialis "daily," from Latin dies "day" (see diurnal).
The word perhaps was abstracted from a phrase such as Medieval Latin rota dialis "daily wheel," and evolved to mean any round plate over which something rotates. Telephone sense is from 1879, which led to dial tone (1921), "the signal to begin dialing," which term soon might be the sole relic of the rotary phone.
dial (v.)
1650s, "to work with aid of a dial or compass," from dial (n.). Telephone sense is from 1923. Related: Dialed; dialing.
雙語例句
1. Simply dial the number and tell us your area.
只需撥這個號碼告訴我們你在什么地方。
來自柯林斯例句
2. She picked up the phone, and began to dial Maurice Campbell's number.
她拿起電話聽筒，開始撥打莫里斯·坎貝爾的號碼。
來自柯林斯例句
3. At the center of the dial is a piece of smoky glass.