- pejorate
[pejorate 词源字典] - "To make worse; to cause to deteriorate. In later use also: to endow (a word) with a less favourable meaning", Mid 17th cent.; earliest use found in Richard Saunders. From post-classical Latin peiorat-, past participial stem of peiorare to make worse (late 2nd or early 3rd cent. a.d.) from classical Latin pēior worse (functioning as the comparative of malus bad: see mal-) from the same Indo-European base as foot; compare -ior. Compare Middle French pejorer (1611 in Cotgrave in an apparently isolated attestation; French péjorer (rare) 1923 or earlier in reflexive use, 1970 in transitive use), Italian peggiorare, both in sense ‘to become worse’, Spanish †peorar, Portuguese piorar, Italian peggiorare, all in sense ‘to make (something) worse’. Compare earlier meliorate.[pejorate etymology, pejorate origin, 英语词源]
