gift
英 [g?ft]
美 [ɡ?ft]
- n. 禮物；天賦；贈品
- vt. 賦予；向…贈送
- n. (Gift)人名；(英)吉夫特
助記提示
1. give => gift.
2. thrive => thrift.
中文詞源
英文詞源
- gift
- gift: [13] Prehistoric Germanic *geb-, the source from which English gets the verb give, produced the derivative *geftiz. This passed into Old English as gift, which, as far as is known, meant only ‘bride price’, and seems to have died out by the Middle English period. Modern English gift represents a borrowing of the related Old Norse gipt or gift. (Modern German, Swedish, and Danish gift and Dutch gif are used euphemistically for ‘poison’.)
=> give - gift (n.)
- mid-13c. "that which is given" (c. 1100 in surnames), from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse gift, gipt "gift; good luck," from Proto-Germanic *giftiz (cognates: Old Saxon gift, Old Frisian jefte, Middle Dutch ghifte "gift," German Mitgift "dowry"), from PIE root *ghabh- "to give or receive" (see habit). For German Gift, Dutch, Danish, Swedish gift "poison," see poison (n.).
Sense of "natural talent" (regarded as conferred) is from c. 1300, perhaps from earlier sense of "inspiration, power miraculously bestowed" (late 12c.), as in the Biblical gift of tongues. Old English cognate gift is recorded only in the sense "bride-price, marriage gift (by the groom), dowry" (hence gifta (pl.) "a marriage, nuptials"). The Old English noun for "a giving, gift" was giefu, which is related to the Old Norse word. Sense of "natural talent" is c. 1300, perhaps from earlier sense of "inspiration" (late 12c.). The proverbial gift horse was earlier given horse:
No man ought to looke a geuen hors in the mouth. [Heywood, 1546]
The modern form perhaps traces to Butler's "Hudibras" (1663), where the tight iambic tetrameter required a shorter phrase:
He ne'er consider'd it, as loth
To look a Gift-horse in the mouth.
- gift (v.)
- "bestow a gift," 16c., from gift (n.). Related: Gifted; gifting.
雙語例句
- 1. In the examination paper Qestion 2 was a gift.
- 考卷中第二道題是個送分題. (本句中的gift不 可換用present)
來自《用法詞典》
- 2. Her grandmother had the gift of making people happy.
- 她奶奶有逗人開心的本事。
來自柯林斯例句
- 3. They are naturally good salesmen with the gift of the gab.
- 他們天生就是能說會道的推銷能手。
來自柯林斯例句
- 4. The surprise gift is a thankyou for our help.
- 這份意外的禮物是為了感謝我們給予的幫助。
來自柯林斯例句
- 5. Are men god's gift to women? Some of them think they are.
- 男人是上帝賜予女人的禮物嗎？有些男人就是這樣認為的。
來自柯林斯例句