world: [OE] Etymologically, world means ‘age of man’. That is the basis of its earliest recorded sense, ‘earthly existence, human life’. But already by the 9th century it was being used for the ‘earth’ itself. It is a compound noun formed in the prehistoric Germanic period from *weraz ‘man’ (probable source of the were- of English werewolf and related to virile) and *ald- ‘age’ (ancestor of English old), and its relatives include German welt, Dutch wereld, Swedish verld, and Danish verden. => old, virile, werewolf
world (n.)
Old English woruld, worold "human existence, the affairs of life," also "a long period of time," also "the human race, mankind, humanity," a word peculiar to Germanic languages (cognates: Old Saxon werold, Old Frisian warld, Dutch wereld, Old Norse verold, Old High German weralt, German Welt), with a literal sense of "age of man," from Proto-Germanic *wer "man" (Old English wer, still in werewolf; see virile) + *ald "age" (see old).
Originally "life on earth, this world (as opposed to the afterlife)," sense extended to "the known world," then to "the physical world in the broadest sense, the universe" (c. 1200). In Old English gospels, the commonest word for "the physical world," was Middangeard (Old Norse Midgard), literally "the middle enclosure" (see yard (n.1)), which is rooted in Germanic cosmology. Greek kosmos in its ecclesiastical sense of "world of people" sometimes was rendered in Gothic as manaseþs, literally "seed of man." The usual Old Norse word was heimr, literally "abode" (see home). Words for "world" in some other Indo-European languages derive from the root for "bottom, foundation" (such as Irish domun, Old Church Slavonic duno, related to English deep); the Lithuanian word is pasaulis, from pa- "under" + saule "sun."
Original sense in world without end, translating Latin saecula saeculorum, and in worldly. Latin saeculum can mean both "age" and "world," as can Greek aion. Meaning "a great quantity or number" is from 1580s. Out of this world "surpassing, marvelous" is from 1928; earlier it meant "dead." World Cup is by 1951; U.S. baseball World Series is by 1893 (originally often World's Series). World power in the geopolitical sense first recorded 1900. World-class is attested from 1950, originally of Olympic athletes.
双语例句
1. The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are stronger at the broken places.
生活总是让我们遍体鳞伤，但到后来，那些受伤的地方会变得更坚强。
来自金山词霸 每日一句
2. A changing world has put pressures on the company.
日新月异的世界使这家公司感到了压力。
来自柯林斯例句
3. "Take That" are the best group in the whole world. So there.
“接招”乐队是世界上最好的组合，就是这样的。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Many of the clothes come from the world's top fashion houses.
这些服装中有很多出自世界顶级时装设计公司。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The world of the gods is anthropomorphic, an imitative projection of ours.
