zodiac: [14] The zodiac is etymologically a circle of ‘little animals’. Greek zóidion originally denoted a ‘carved figure of an animal’ (it was a diminutive of zóion ‘a(chǎn)nimal’, a relative of English zoo). From it was derived the adjective zōidiakós, which was used in the expression zōidiakós kúklos ‘circle of carved figures’, denoting the twelve figures or signs representing the divisions of a band around the celestial sphere. Zōidiakós became a noun in its own right, and passed into English via Latin zōdiacus and French zodiaque. => zoo
zodiac (n.)
late 14c., from Old French zodiaque, from Latin zodiacus "zodiac," from Greek zodiakos (kyklos) "zodiac (circle)," literally "circle of little animals," from zodiaion, diminutive of zoion "animal" (see zoo).
Libra is not an animal, but it was not a zodiac constellation to the Greeks, who reckoned 11 but counted Scorpio and its claws (including what is now Libra) as a "double constellation." Libra was figured back in by the Romans. In Old English the zodiac was twelf tacna "the twelve signs," and in Middle English also Our Ladye's Waye and the Girdle of the Sky.
雙語(yǔ)例句
1. She covered the walls with the signs of the zodiac.
她在墻上貼滿了十二星座的標(biāo)志。
來(lái)自柯林斯例句
2. Drummond was working on a book in collaboration with Zodiac Mindwarp.
德拉蒙德正與“黃道神游”（本名馬克·曼寧）合作撰寫(xiě)一本書(shū)。
來(lái)自柯林斯例句
3. the signs of the zodiac
黃道十二宮
來(lái)自《權(quán)威詞典》
4. The ancient astronomers divided zodiac into 12 equal segments.
古代天文學(xué)家把黃道帶分為12等分.
來(lái)自辭典例句
5. Did you know the original zodiac killer actually continually changed his victims.