brain

英 [bre?n] 美[bren]

CET4TEM4考研TOEFLCET6中高頻詞基本詞匯

復數:?brains;第三人稱單數:?brains;過去式:?brained;過去分詞:?brained;現在分詞:?braining;

brain 腦

詞源不詳。

brain: brain: [OE] Old English br?gen came from a Germanic *bragnam. Its rather restricted distribution in modern Germanic languages (apart from English brain there is only Dutch and Frisian brein) suggests that in prehistoric times it may have been limited to the area of North Germany where the Low German dialects were spoken, but it may well have some connection with Greek brekhmós ‘forehead’.
brain (v.): "to dash the brains out," late 14c., from brain (n.). Related: Brained; braining.
brain (n.): Old English br?gen "brain," from Proto-Germanic *bragnam (cognates: Middle Low German bregen, Old Frisian and Dutch brein), from PIE root *mregh-m(n)o- "skull, brain" (cognates: Greek brekhmos "front part of the skull, top of the head"). But Liberman writes that brain "has no established cognates outside West Germanic ..." and is not connected to the Greek word. More probably, he writes, its etymon is PIE *bhragno "something broken."

The custom of using the plural to refer to the substance (literal or figurative), as opposed to the organ, dates from 16c. Figurative sense of "intellectual power" is from late 14c.; meaning "a clever person" is first recorded 1914. Brain teaser is from 1923. Brain stem first recorded 1879, from German. Brain drain is attested from 1963. An Old English word for "head" was br?gnloca, which might be translated as "brain locker." In Middle English, brainsick (Old English br?genseoc) meant "mad, addled."

1. The horrors he experienced are imprinted, perhaps indelibly, in his brain.: 他經歷的恐怖事件在他腦海中刻下了深深的，或許是難以磨滅的印記。

2. She has a first-class brain and is a damned good writer.: 她頭腦相當靈光，是個非常棒的作家。

3. Hallucination is common in patients who have suffered damage to the brain.: 腦部受損的病人常會產生幻覺。

4. He was witty, amusing and gifted with a sharp business brain.: 他機智詼諧，具有敏銳的商業頭腦。