pearl: [14] Latin perna originally signified ‘leg’, and hence ‘ham’. It came to be applied metaphorically to a variety of sea-mussel whose stalk-like foot resembled a ham in shape. Such mussels could contain pearls, and so a diminutive form *pernula seems to have been coined in Vulgar Latin to designate ‘pearl’. This was later contracted to *perla, which passed into English via Old French perle.
pearl (n.)
mid-13c., from Old French perle (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin perla (mid-13c.), of unknown origin. Perhaps from Vulgar Latin *pernula, diminutive of Latin perna, which in Sicily meant "pearl," earlier "sea-mussel," literally "ham, haunch, gammon," so called for the shape of the mollusk shells.
Other theories connect it with the root of pear, also somehow based on shape, or Latin pilula "globule," with dissimilation. The usual Latin word for "pearl" was margarita (see margarite).
For pearls before swine, see swine. Pearl Harbor translates Hawaiian Wai Momi, literally "pearl waters," so named for the pearl oysters found there; transferred sense of "effective sudden attack" is attested from 1942 (in reference to Dec. 7, 1941).
双语例句
1. "You don't need to do that," said Pearl assertively.
“你不需要那么做，”珀尔斩钉截铁地说道。
来自柯林斯例句
2. And what is that pearl of wisdom supposed to mean?
那番精辟见解到底是什么意思呢？
来自柯林斯例句
3. On the table sat a box decorated with little pearl triangles.
桌上有一只用珠子串成的小三角形作装饰的盒子。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Pearl didn't mind his reticence; in fact she liked it.
珀尔并不介意他沉默寡言；事实上，她喜欢这一点。
来自柯林斯例句
5. I put on the pearl earrings Daddy had bought me.
