after: [OE] In the first millennium AD many Germanic languages had forms cognate with Old English æfter (Gothic aftra, for example, and Old Norse aptr), but, with the exception of Dutch achter, none survive. It is not clear what their ultimate origin is, but the suffix they share may well be a comparative one, and it is possible that they derive from a Germanic base *af- (represented in Old English æftan ‘from behind’).
It has been suggested that this goes back to Indo-European *ap- (source of Latin ab ‘away, from’ and English of(f)), in which case after would mean literally ‘more off’ – that is, ‘further away’. Nautical aft is probably a shortening of abaft, formed, with the prefixes a- ‘on’ and be- ‘by’, from Old English æftan. => of, off
after (prep.)
Old English æfter "after, next, throughout, following in time, later," from Old English of "off" (see of) + -ter, a comparative suffix; thus the original meaning was "more away, farther off." Compare Old Norse eptir "after," Old High German aftar, Gothic aftra "behind." Cognate with Greek apotero "farther off."
After hours "after regular working hours" is from 1861. Afterwit "wisdom that comes too late" is attested from c. 1500 but seems to have fallen from use, despite being more needed now than ever. After you as an expression in yielding precedence is recorded by 1650.
实用例句
1. No matter where you go in life or how old you get, there's always something new to learn about. After all, life is full of surprises.
不管你生活在哪里，你有多少岁，总有新东西要学习，毕竟，生活总是充满惊喜。
来自金山词霸 每日一句
2. He was fired from his job after roughing up a colleague.
他因为对一位同事动粗而被开除了。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The mystery hero imme-diately alerted police after spotting a bomb.
那个无名英雄发现炸弹后马上报了警。
来自柯林斯例句
4. After a three-weekend courtship, Pamela accepted Randolph's proposal of marriage.
经过3个周末的追求之后，帕梅拉接受了伦道夫的求婚。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The ballot was re-run on Mr Todd's insistence after accusations of malpractice.
