cinder: [OE] Despite the similarity of form and meaning, cinder has no etymological connection with French cendre (which comes from Latin cinis ‘ashes’, and is thus related to English incinerate and cineraria, a plant so named because of the grey down on its leaves). It is a Germanic word, related to German sinter ‘deposit formed by evaporation’ (itself borrowed into English in the 18th century), and from Old English times until the 16th century was usually spelled with an initial s-; the c- is an adoption from French cendre.
The name of the fairy-tale character Cinderella is a translation and adaptation of French cendrillon, originally a generic term for any downtrodden kitchen maid who spent much of her time among the cendres of the hearth.
cinder (n.)
Old English sinder "dross of iron, slag," from Proto-Germanic *sendra- "slag" (cognates: Old Saxon sinder "slag, dross," Old Norse sindr, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch sinder, Dutch sintel, Old High German sintar, German Sinter), from PIE root *sendhro- "coagulating fluid" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic sedra "cinder").
Initial s- changed to c- under influence of unrelated French cendre "ashes," from Latin cinerem (nominative cinis) "ashes," from or related to Greek konis "dust" (see incinerate). The Latin word was contracted to *cin'rem and the -d- inserted for ease of pronunciation (compare peindre from pingere). The French word also apparently shifted the sense of the English one to "small piece of burnt coal" (16c.). Volcanic cinder cone is recorded from 1849.
双语例句
1. The cakes were burnt to a cinder.
饼烤猵胡了.
来自辞典例句
2. But he took off his sweater and they began jogging slowly around the cinder track.
不过,他还是脱了厚毛衣,两人开始沿煤渣跑道慢慢地晃着跑起来.
来自辞典例句
3. You've burnt the toast to a cinder , ie so that it is hard and black.
你把面包片烤焦了.
来自辞典例句
4. Instead of being liked, he was dead, a bleeding cinder on the barbarous fire pile.
他没有得到人怜爱, 反而鲜血淋淋地躺在熊熊燃烧的烈火堆上,化为灰烬,离开了人世.
来自辞典例句
5. The pie and potatoes are burned to a cinder ( a crisp )