gross

英文詞源

gross

gross: [14] Gross comes via Old French gros from late Latin grossus ‘large, bulky’, a word of unknown origin (not related to German gross ‘large’). Its association with literal physical size has now largely died out in English, in the face of a growing figurative role in such senses as ‘coarse, vulgar’ and (of amounts) ‘total, entire’. Its use as a noun meaning ‘144’, which dates from the 15th century, comes from the French phrase grosse douzaine ‘large dozen’. Grocer is a derivative, as is engross [14]; this originally meant ‘buy up wholesale’, hence ‘gain exclusive possession of’ and, by metaphorical extension, ‘occupy all the attention of’.
=> engross, grocer

gross (adj.)

mid-14c., "large;" early 15c., "thick," also "coarse, plain, simple," from Old French gros "big, thick, fat; tall; strong, powerful; pregnant; coarse, rude, awkward; ominous, important; arrogant" (11c.), from Late Latin grossus "thick, coarse" (of food or mind), in Medieval Latin "great, big" (source also of Spanish grueso, Italian grosso), a word of obscure origin, not in classical Latin. Said to be unrelated to Latin crassus, which meant the same thing, or to German gross "large," but said by Klein to be cognate with Old Irish bres, Middle Irish bras "big."

Its meaning forked in English. Via the notion of "coarse in texture or quality" came the senses "not sensitive, dull stupid" (1520s), "vulgar, coarse in a moral sense" (1530s). Via notion of "general, not in detail" came the sense "entire, total, whole, without deductions" (early 15c.), as in gross national product (1947). Meaning "glaring, flagrant, monstrous" is from 1580s; modern meaning "disgusting" is first recorded 1958 in U.S. student slang, from earlier use as an intensifier of unpleasant things (gross stupidity, etc.).

gross (n.)

"a dozen dozen," early 15c., from Old French grosse douzaine "large dozen;" see gross (adj.). Earlier as the name of a measure of weight equal to one-eighth of a dram (early 15c.). Sense of "total profit" (opposed to net (adj.)) is from 1520s.

gross (v.)

"to earn a total of," 1884, from gross (adj.) in the "whole, total" sense. Slang meaning "make (someone) disgusted" (usually with out) is from 1971. Related: Grossed; grossing.