metal

英['met(ə)l] 美['mɛtl]

反义词wood

复数: metals;第三人称单数: metals;过去式: metalled;过去分词: metalled;现在分词: metalling;

metal 金属

来自拉丁语metallum,金属，矿产，采石场，矿物质，来自希腊语metallon,金属，矿石，矿砂，词源同metal. 可能来自PIE*smi,砍，切，词源同smith,blacksmith,goldsmith.

metal: metal: [13] Greek métallon, a word of unknown origin, had a range of meanings, including ‘mine’ (the original sense) and ‘mineral’ as well as ‘metal’. These were carried over into Latin metallum, but by the time the word reached English, via Old French metal, ‘metal’ was all that was left. Mettle [16] is a variant spelling of metal, used to distinguish its metaphorical senses.

Closely related is medal [16], which etymologically means ‘something made of metal’. It comes via French médaille and Italian medaglia from a general Romance form *medallia. This was an alteration of Vulgar Latin *metallea, a derivative of Latin metallum. Medallion [17] goes back via French to Italian medaglione ‘large medal’.
=> medal, medallion
metal (n.): mid-13c., from Old French metal "metal; material, substance, stuff" (12c.), from Latin metallum "metal; mine, quarry, mineral, what is got by mining," from Greek metallon "metal, ore" (senses only in post-classical texts; originally "mine, quarry, pit"), probably from metalleuein "to mine, to quarry," of unknown origin, but related somehow to metallan "to seek after." Compare Greek metalleutes "a miner," metalleia "a searching for metals, mining."
metal (adj.): late 14c., from metal (n.).

1. Light fittings with metal parts should always be earthed.: 有金属部件的照明装置都应该走地线。

4. A gust of wind pried loose a section of sheet-metal roofing.: 一阵狂风把铺在屋顶上的一块金属片掀起来了。