- decoupage (n.)
[decoupage 词源字典] - 1960, from French découpage, literally "the act of cutting out," from decouper "to cut out" (12c., Old French decoper), from de- "out" (see de-) + couper "to cut" (see chop (v.1)).[decoupage etymology, decoupage origin, 英语词源]
- decouple (v.)
- c. 1600, from French découpler "to uncouple," from de- (see de-) + coupler (Old French copler; see couple (v.)). Related: Decoupled; decoupling.
- decoy (n.)
- 1610s, perhaps from Dutch kooi "cage," used of a pond surrounded by nets, into which wildfowl were lured for capture, from West Germanic *kaiwa, from Latin cavea "cage." The first element is possibly the Dutch definite article de, mistaken in English as part of the word. But decoy, of unknown origin, was the name of a card game popular c. 1550-1650, and this may have influenced the form of the word.
- decoy (v.)
- 1650s, from decoy (n.). Related: Decoyed; decoying.
- decrease (v.)
- late 14c., from Anglo-French decreiss-, present participle stem of decreistre, Old French descroistre (12c., Modern French décroître), from Latin decrescere "to grow less, diminish," from de- "away from" (see de-) + crescere "to grow" (see crescent). Related: Decreased; decreasing.
- decrease (n.)
- late 14c., "detriment, harm;" early 15c. as "a becoming less or smaller," from Anglo-French decres; see decrease (v.).
- decree (n.)
- early 14c., from Old French decre, variant of decret (12c., Modern French décret), from Latin decretum, neuter of decretus, past participle of decernere "to decree, decide, pronounce a decision," from de- (see de-) + cernere "to separate" (see crisis).
- decree (v.)
- late 14c., from decree (n.). Related: Decreed; decreeing.
- decrement (n.)
- 1620s, from Latin decrementum "diminution," from stem of decrescere (see decrease).
- decrepit (adj.)
- mid-15c., from Middle French décrépit (15c.), from Latin decrepitus "very old, infirm," from de- "down" (see de-) + *crepitus, past participle of crepare "to crack, break" (see raven).
- decrepitude (n.)
- c. 1600, from French décrépitude (14c.), from Latin decrepitus (see decrepit).
- decrescendo (n.)
- 1806, from Italian decrescendo, from Latin decrescere (see decrease (v.)).
- decriminalization (n.)
- 1945, from de- + criminal + -ization. Especially in reference to narcotics since c. 1968.
- decriminalize (v.)
- 1963, "to reform a criminal," back-formation from decriminalization. Meaning "to make legal something that formerly had been illegal" was in use by 1970 (there are isolated instances back to 1867). Related: Decriminalized; decriminalizing.
- decry (v.)
- 1610s, from French decrier (14c.; Old French descrier "cry out, announce"), from de- "down, out" (see de-) + crier "to cry," from Latin quiritare (see cry (v.)). In English, the sense has been colored by the presumption that de- in this word means "down."
- decrypt (v.)
- "to solve a cryptogram," 1936, from de- + cryptogram. Related: Decrypted; decrypting.
- decubitus (n.)
- 1866, Modern Latin, from Latin decumbere "to lie down," from de- (see de-) + cumbere (see succumb).
- decuple (adj.)
- 1610s, from French décuple (late 15c.), from Latin decuplus "tenfold," from decem- "ten" (see ten) + -plus (see plus).
- decussate (v.)
- 1650s, from Latin decussatus, past participle of decussare "to divide crosswise, to cross in the form of an 'X,'" from decussis "the figure 'ten'" (in Roman numerals, represented by X) from decem "ten" (see ten). As an adjective, from 1825.
- dedicate (v.)
- early 15c. (of churches), from Latin dedicatus, past participle of dedicare "consecrate, proclaim, affirm, set apart," from de- "away" (see de-) + dicare "proclaim," from stem of dicere "to speak, to say" (see diction). Dedicated "devoted to one's aims or vocation" is first attested 1944.
