comet: [13] Comet means literally ‘the longhaired one’. Greek kómē meant ‘hair’, but it was also applied metaphorically to the tail of a comet, which was thought of as streaming out behind like a luxuriant head of hair being blown by the wind. Hence an astēr kométēs ‘longhaired star’ was the name given to a comet. Eventually the adjective kométēs came to stand for the whole phrase, and it passed via Latin comēta and Old French comete into English.
comet (n.)
c. 1200, from Old French comete (12c., Modern French comète), from Latin cometa, from Greek (aster) kometes, literally "long-haired (star)," from kome "hair of the head" (compare koman "let the hair grow long"), which is of unknown origin. So called from resemblance of a comet's tail to streaming hair.
雙語例句
1. They observed the comet for 70 days before it faded from sight.
他們觀察了這顆彗星70天，直至其慢慢從視線中消失。
來自柯林斯例句
2. Comet also sired the champion foal out of Spinway Harvest.
“彗星”還跟“斯平威·哈維斯特”生下了這匹出類拔萃的小馬駒。
來自柯林斯例句
3. We were not altogether sure that the comet would miss the Earth.
我們不能完全肯定彗星不會與地球相撞。
來自柯林斯例句
4. The orbit of this comet intersects the orbit of the Earth.