tweezers

英 ['twi?z?z] 美['twiz?z]

IELTS

tweezers 鑷子，鉗子

改寫自 tweezes,鑷子，鉗子，復數形式于 tweeze,縮寫自 etweese,來自法語 etui,小箱子，小盒子。插入字母 r,比較 trousers 改寫自 trouzes.比喻用法，即由裝鑷子等物件的小箱子代指鑷子，鉗子。詞義演變比較 toilet,原義為小袋子，化妝品袋。

tweezers: tweezers: [17] French étui denotes a small case for carrying personal articles, small tools and the like (it was descended from Old French estuier ‘keep, shut up, imprison’). English adopted it in the early 17th century as etui or, anglicized, as etwee. The plural of this came to be used (like scissors) for a single article, and it did not take long for etweese to be apprehended as a singular noun.

The next step in the word’s transformation was the loss of its first syllable: hence, tweeze. This still meant ‘case for small instruments’, and the plural tweezes began to be used for the instruments themselves – typically implements of personal adornment, such as combs, scissors and small pincers for pulling out hairs. By the 1650s tweezes had been extended to tweezers (perhaps on the model of scissors), and this was being applied specifically to the pincers – as it still is today.
tweezers (n.): "small pincers, diminutive tongs," 1650s, extended from tweezes, plural of tweeze "case for tweezers" (1620s), a shortening of etweese, considered as plural of etwee (1610s) "a small case," from French étui "small case" (see etui). Sense transferred from the case to the implement inside it. For form, compare trousers from trouzes.

4. We simply removed from the cracked endocarp with sterile tweezers.: 我們簡單地用消過毒的鑷子從裂開的內果皮中取出種子.