英语词汇quick的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

quick. Quick, spelled cqicu or cwic, originally meant “the presence of life,” or “living” in Old English. Therefore, livestock was once called quickstock, “living stock,” quicksilver was so named because it seemed alive, a quick fence was a living hedge of plants, the sensitive flesh under a fingernail was known as the quick, and a quick wine was a lively, sparkling one. The old use of the word also figures in several common phrases. A woman quick with child is carrying a baby that has begun to show signs of life, that is “kicking.” The quick and the dead just meant the living and the dead before it acquired its present double meaning. As for stung to the quick, this simply means that a person is stung deeply in living tissue where it really hurts. Today’s use of quick as “swift” probably derives from early train conductors telling people to “be quick” or “step lively.” See also cut to the quick.

词汇	quick
词源	quick. Quick, spelled cqicu or cwic, originally meant “the presence of life,” or “living” in Old English. Therefore, livestock was once called quickstock, “living stock,” quicksilver was so named because it seemed alive, a quick fence was a living hedge of plants, the sensitive flesh under a fingernail was known as the quick, and a quick wine was a lively, sparkling one. The old use of the word also figures in several common phrases. A woman quick with child is carrying a baby that has begun to show signs of life, that is “kicking.” The quick and the dead just meant the living and the dead before it acquired its present double meaning. As for stung to the quick, this simply means that a person is stung deeply in living tissue where it really hurts. Today’s use of quick as “swift” probably derives from early train conductors telling people to “be quick” or “step lively.” See also cut to the quick.
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