- sextet (n.)
[sextet 词源字典] - 1841, altered (by influence of German Sextett) from sestet.[sextet etymology, sextet origin, 英语词源]
- sextile
- 1550s (adj.), "at a distance of 60 degrees;" 1590s (n.); from Latin sextilis (adj.) "the sixth," from sextus "sixth" (ordinal number; see Sextus).
- sextillion (n.)
- 1680s, from Latin sext-, comb. form of sex "six" (see six) + (m)illion. Compare billion. Related: Sextillionth.
- sexton (n.)
- c. 1300, sekesteyn, "person in charge of the sacred objects of a church," from Old French segrestien, from Medieval Latin sacristanus (see sacristan). Sense of "custodian of a church" first recorded 1580s. Fem. forms sextress, sextrice are recorded 15c., but the usual form is sextoness (early 15c.).
- sextuple (adj.)
- "sixfold," 1620s, from Latin sextus "sixth" (from sex "six;" see six) + -plus "more" (see plus).
- sextuplet (n.)
- 1852, from adjective sextuple (1620s); patterned on triplet, etc.
- Sextus
- masc. proper name, from Latin, properly "the sixth," originally denoting a sixth child, from sextus "sixth," from sex "six" (see six; also see Octavian).
- sexual (adj.)
- 1650s, "of or pertaining to the fact of being male or female," from Late Latin sexualis "relating to sex," from Latin sexus (see sex (n.)). Meaning "pertaining to copulation or generation" is from 1766; sexual intercourse attested by 1778; sexual orientation by 1967; sexual harassment by 1975. Sexual revolution attested by 1962. Sexual politics is from 1970. Related: Sexually.
- sexuality (n.)
- 1789, "action or fact of being sexual;" see sexual + -ity. Meaning "capability of sexual feelings" is from 1879. Meaning "sexual identity" is by 1980.
- sexualization (n.)
- 1872, noun of action from sexualize.
- sexualize (v.)
- 1839, from sexual + -ize. Related: Sexualized; sexualizing.
- sexy (adj.)
- 1905, from sex (n.) + -y (2). Originally "engrossed in sex;" sense of "sexually attractive" is 1923, first in reference to Valentino. An earlier word in this sense was sexful (1898). Related: Sexier; sexiest.
- Seychelles
- renamed 1756 in honor of French finance minister Jean Moreau de Séchelles; spelling altered 1794 by the English when they took the islands from France. Related: Seychellois.
- sforzando (adj.)
- "with sudden energy or impulse," 1801, from Italian sforzando, gerundive of sforza "to force" (see effort).
- sfumato (adj.)
- 1847, from Italian sfumato, literally "smoked," from Latin fumus "smoke" (see fume (n.)).
- sh (interj.)
- exclamation used to urge or request silence, 1847. The gesture of putting a finger to the lips to express silence is attested from Roman times. As a transitive verb from 1887; intransitive from 1925.
- sh-
- sound represented in Old English by -sc- (fisc "fish"), which originally was pronounced "-sk-" but which by late Old English had softened to "-sh-." Modern English words with -sc- mostly are imports (generally Scandinavian).
The "sh" sound did not exist in Old French, therefore French scribes after the Norman conquest often represented it with -ssh- in medial and final positions, and sch- in initial positions (schape, schamful, schaft for shape, shameful, shaft). But the spelling -sh- has been standard since Caxton, probably as a worn-down form of Middle English -sch-.
In some East Anglian texts from 14c.-15c., x- is used (xal, xulde for shall, should), which would have given the language a very different look had it prevailed, but the London-based sh- ended up as the standard form. The same Germanic sound has become, by natural evolution, modern German and Dutch sch-, Scandinavian sk-. - Shabbat (n.)
- 1934, from Hebrew shabbat (see Sabbath). Earlier in English as Shabbos (1870), from Yiddish shabes.
- shabbify (v.)
- 1866, from shabby + -ify. Related: Shabified; shabifying.
- shabby (adj.)
- 1660s, of persons, "poorly dressed," with -y (2) + shab "a low fellow" (1630s), literally "scab" (now only dialectal in the literal sense, in reference to a disease of sheep), from Old English sceabb (the native form of the Scandinavian word that yielded Modern English scab; also see sh-). Similar formation in Middle Dutch schabbich, German schäbig "shabby."
Of clothes, furniture, etc., "of mean appearance, no longer new or fresh" from 1680s; meaning "inferior in quality" is from 1805. Figurative sense "contemptibly mean" is from 1670s. Related: Shabbily; shabbiness. Shabby-genteel "run-down but trying to keep up appearances, retaining in present shabbiness traces of former gentility," first recorded 1754. Related: Shabaroon "disreputable person," c. 1700.
