- do-it-yourself
[do-it-yourself 词源字典] - as a modifier, attested by 1941. The expression is much older.[do-it-yourself etymology, do-it-yourself origin, 英语词源]
- go-it-alone (adj.)
- attested by 1953 (in reference to U.S. foreign policy proposals), from an American English verbal phrase attested by 1842 and meaning "do anything without assistance." Go it as colloquial for "to act" (especially in a determined or vigorous way) is from 1825; hence also American English go it blind (1842) in reference to something done without regard for consequences.
- -ite (1)
- from French -ite and directly from Latin -ita, from Greek -ites (fem. -itis), forming adjectives and nouns meaning "connected with or belonging to." Especially used in classical times to form ethnic and local designations (for example in Septuagint translations of Hebrew names in -i) and for names of gems and minerals.
- -ite (2)
- salt suffix, from French -ite, alteration of -ate (see -ate (3)).
- -itis
- noun suffix denoting diseases characterized by inflammation, Modern Latin, from Greek -itis, feminine of adjectival suffix -ites "pertaining to." Feminine because it was used with feminine noun nosos "disease," especially in Greek arthritis (nosos) "(disease) of the joints," which was one of the earliest borrowings into English and from which the suffix was abstracted in other uses.
- -ity
- suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives, meaning "condition or quality of being ______," from Middle English -ite, from Old French -ité and directly from Latin -itatem (nominative -itas), suffix denoting state or condition, composed of connective -i- + -tas (see -ty (2)).
Roughly, the word in -ity usually means the quality of being what the adjective describes, or concretely an instance of the quality, or collectively all the instances; & the word in -ism means the disposition, or collectively all those who feel it. [Fowler]
- Post-it (n.)
- 1975, proprietary name.
