identity: [16] The historical meaning of identity is best preserved in its derivative identical [17] – ‘the same’. For its ultimate source was Latin idem ‘same’, a pronoun (formed from id ‘it, that one’ with the suffix -dem) used in English since the 17th century for referring to a previously cited author or text. This formed the basis of late Latin identitās, which meant literally ‘sameness’; the main meaning of its English descendant identity, ‘individuality, set of definitive characteristics’, arose from the notion of something always being the same or always being itself (rather than something else).
identity (n.)
c. 1600, "sameness, oneness," from Middle French identité (14c.), from Late Latin (5c.) identitatem (nominative identitas) "sameness," from ident-, comb. form of Latin idem (neuter) "the same" (see identical); abstracted from identidem "over and over," from phrase idem et idem. [For discussion of Latin formation, see entry in OED.] Earlier form of the word in English was idemptitie (1560s), from Medieval Latin idemptitas. Term identity crisis first recorded 1954. Identity theft attested from 1995.
实用例句
1. The vital clue to the killer's identity was his nickname, Peanuts.
查明杀手身份的重要线索是他的外号叫“花生”.
来自柯林斯例句
2. They are a lost generation in search of an identity.
他们属于迷惘的一代，想要找寻自我。
来自柯林斯例句
3. There are conflicting reports about the identity of the hostage.
有关人质身份的报道相互矛盾。
来自柯林斯例句
4. These institutions have made the assertion of ethnic identity possible.
这些制度使实现民族认同的主张成为可能。
来自柯林斯例句
5. It's a black comedy of racial prejudice, mistaken identity and thwarted expectations.
