enamel: [14] The underlying meaning element in enamel is ‘melting’. It comes ultimately from a prehistoric Germanic base *smalt- (source of English schmaltz ‘sentimentality’ [20], borrowed via Yiddish from German schmalz ‘fat, dripping’), and related Germanic forms produced English smelt, melt, and malt. Old French acquired the Germanic word and turned it into esmauz; this in turn was re-formed to esmail, and Anglo-Norman adopted it as amail.
This formed the basis, with the prefix en- ‘in’, of a verb enamailler ‘decorate with enamel’. English borrowed it, and by the mid-15th century it was being used as a noun for the substance itself (the noun amel, a direct borrowing from Anglo-Norman, had in fact been used in this sense since the 14th century, and it did not finally die out until the 18th century).
Its application to the substance covering teeth dates from the early 18th century. => malt, melt, schmaltz, smelt
enamel (v.)
early 14c., from Anglo-French enamailler (early 14c.), from en- "in" (see en- (1)) + amailler "to enamel," variant of Old French esmailler, from esmal "enamel," from Frankish *smalt, from Proto-Germanic *smaltjan "to smelt" (see smelt (v.)). Related: Enameled; enameler; enameling.
enamel (n.)
early 15c., in ceramics, from enamel (v.). As "hardest part of a tooth," 1718, from a use in French émail.
实用例句
1. The enamel gives new brass an authentically tarnished finish.
用瓷釉作末道漆使新的黄铜器看似自然地失去了光泽。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Made from cast iron, it is finished in graphite enamel.
它是用铸铁制成，最后在外面搪了一层石墨。
来自柯林斯例句
3. a chipped enamel bowl
脱落搪瓷的碗
来自《权威词典》
4. I chipped the enamel on my front tooth when I fell over.
我跌倒时门牙的珐琅质碰碎了.
来自《简明英汉词典》
5. He collected coloured enamel bowls from Yugoslavia.
