profile: [17] The -file of profile is etymologically a ‘thread’. The word comes from early modern Italian profilo, a derivative of profilare ‘draw in outline’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix pro- ‘forward’ and filare, which used to mean ‘draw a line’; and this in turn went back to Latin filāre ‘spin’, a derivative of filum ‘thread’ (from which English gets file for storing things in). => file
profile (n.)
1650s, "a drawing of the outline of anything," from older Italian profilo "a drawing in outline," from profilare "to draw in outline," from pro- "forth" (see pro-) + filare "draw out, spin," from Late Latin filare "to spin, draw out a line," from filum "thread" (see file (v.1)). Meaning "a side view" is from 1660s. Meaning "biographical sketch, character study" is from 1734.
profile (v.)
1715, "to represent in profile," from profile (n.) or Italian profilare. Meaning "to summarize a person in writing" is from 1948. Related: Profiled; profiling.
雙語(yǔ)例句
1. The police deliberately kept a low profile in most places.
警方在大多數(shù)地方有意保持低調(diào)。
來(lái)自柯林斯例句
2. Tony has now been thrust into the limelight, with a high-profile job.