【英语学习】【WOTD】circadian 释义/词源/示例

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circadian adj. [ser-KAY-dee-un]

adj. [生]昼夜节律的；生理节奏的

Definition

: being, having, characterized by, or occurring in approximately 24-hour periods or cycles (as of biological activity or function)
：以大约24小时为周期的，具有这个周期的，以这个周期为特征的，按这个周期发生的（例如生物活动或功能）

Did You Know?

In 1959, a scientist formed the word circadian from the Latin words circa (“about”) and dies (“day”), and it caught on quickly. Most often, it’s seen and heard in the term circadian rhythm, which refers to the inherent cycle of about 24 hours that appears to control various biological processes, such as sleep, wakefulness, and digestive activity. If you want to impress your friends, you can also use the term circadian dysrhythmia, a fancy synonym of jet lag.

词源词根演化：circa (“about”) + dies (“day”) —> circadian (adj.)

在1959年，科学家使用拉丁单词circa（“大约”）与dies（“一天”）创造了形容词circadian，很快这个词就流行开来。最常见的用于术语circadian rhythm中，表示生物体用于控制各种生理过程的固有的24小时周期，例如睡眠，清醒，和消化行为。如果你想惊艳一下你的朋友，你可以说circadian dysrhythmia （“生物周期紊乱”），这个术语是jet lag（“时差”）的同义词。

注：catch on：理解，变得流行；jet lag：时差

Examples

• The presence and absence of light can greatly influence an organism’s circadian rhythms .
  光照的存在与消失可以极大的影响有机生物的昼夜节律周期。
• “The circadian cycle is a period of approximately 24 hours. During that time, and keyed to the daily shift from light to dark and back again, the circadian clock influences rhythmic changes in both physiology and behavior.”
  — Eve Glazier and Elizabeth Ko, The Bismarck Tribune, 3 July 2018
  昼夜节律周期大约是24小时。在这段时间内，关键点是每天的昼转夜，周而复始，生物钟在生理上与行为上影响着生物的节律变化。

Bonus

dismal这个单词也衍生在拉丁单词dies（“day”），加上mali（“evil”），构成了这个单词的意思：“evil days”，表示“阴沉的，凄凉的，暗的”。

The Evil History of Dismal
In late antiquity, certain days each month, called “Egyptian days,” were regarded as inauspicious, probably as a relic of ancient Egyptian belief. By the Middle Ages, people took them to be anniversaries of the Biblical plagues in Egypt. There were 24 such days per year, and in Anglo-French they were called collectively dismal (from Latin dies mali, “evil days”), and this word was borrowed into Middle English. In time the “evil days” sense was forgotten and dismal was simply taken to mean “disastrous.” The noun dismal, meaning “swamp,” goes back to the 1700s when the marshy region in Virginia and North Carolina was named the Great Dismal Swamp.

注：antiquity：古代，古物，古迹；inauspicious：不详的，不吉利的；relic：残留物；plague：灾难，瘟疫，灾祸