decibel (n.)

1928年，源自 deci- 和 bel（名词）。

Progress in science and industry is constantly demanding new terms and one of the latest of these is the word "decibel," coined by telephone engineers to describe the efficiency of telephone circuits. It is a substitute for the phrase "transmission unit." The actual unit decided upon was first called "bel," after the inventor of the telephone. The bel, however, is larger than is needed in practice, and, therefore, a unit one-tenth as large was adopted by engineers and named the decibel. [Popular Mechanics, May 1929]

科学和工业的进步不断要求新术语，其中最新的一个是“分贝”一词，由电话工程师创造，用于描述电话电路的效率。它是“传输单位”这个短语的替代品。最初决定采用的实际单位被称为“贝尔”，以电话发明者的名字命名。然而，贝尔比实际需要的要大，因此工程师采用了一个比贝尔小十倍的单位，并将其命名为分贝。[Popular Mechanics，1929年5月]