only: [OE] Only is a compound formed in the Old English period from ān, ancestor of modern English one, and -lic ‘-ly’. It originally meant ‘solitary’ as well as ‘unique’, but this sense has been taken over by the related lonely. Only preserves the early diphthongal pronunciation which its source one has lost. => lonely, one
only (adj.)
Old English ?nlic, anlic "only, unique, solitary," literally "one-like," from an "one" (see one) + -lic "-like" (see -ly (1)). Use as an adverb and conjunction developed in Middle English. Distinction of only and alone (now usually in reference to emotional states) is unusual; in many languages the same word serves for both. German also has a distinction in allein/einzig. Phrase only-begotten (mid-15c.) is biblical, translating Latin unigenitus, Greek monogenes. The Old English form was ancenned.
雙語例句
1. His house was the only settled home I had as a child.
他的房子是我兒時唯一固定的家。
來自柯林斯例句
2. The arteries are diseased and a transplant is the only hope.
動脈已經發生病變，移植是唯一的希望。
來自柯林斯例句
3. The crowd in Robinson's Coffee-House was thinning, but only by degrees.
魯賓遜咖啡屋里的人正在變少，但也只是漸少而已。
來自柯林斯例句
4. They have only a vague idea of the amount of water available.
他們只是大概知道可用水的總量。
來自柯林斯例句
5. We were in the same college, which was male-only at that time.