- suspect (adj.)
- mid-14c., from O.Fr. suspect "suspicious," from L. suspectus "suspected, suspicious," pp. of suspicere "look up at, mistrust, suspect," from sub "up to" + specere "to look at" (see scope (1)). The notion is of "look at secretly," hence, "look at distrustfully." The verb is attested from late 15c.; the noun meaning "a suspected person" is first recorded 1590s.
- suss (v.)
- "to figure out, investigate and discover," 1966, earlier "to suspect" (1953, police jargon), a slang shortening of suspect (v.).
- bamboo
- 1590s, from Du. bamboe, from Port. bambu, earlier mambu (16c.), probably from Malay samambu, though some suspect this is itself an imported word.
- unsuspected
- 1530, from un- (1) "not" + pp. of suspect (v.).
- seamy
- 1604, in fig. phrase seamy side "least pleasant, worst," from seam (q.v.), the seamy side of a sewn garment being the less attractive, and thus typically turned in. The popularity of the fig. sense likely is due to its use by Shakespeare in "Othello" IV.ii.146: "Some such Squire he was That turn'd your wits the seamy-side without, And made you to suspect me with the Moore."
- poverty
- c.1175, from O.Fr. poverte, from L. paupertatem (nom. paupertas) "poverty," from pauper (see poor).
"Seeing so much poverty everywhere makes me think that God is not rich. He gives the appearance of it, but I suspect some financial difficulties." [Victor Hugo, "Les Misérables," 1862]
- guilt
- O.E. gylt "crime, sin, fault, fine," of unknown origin, though some suspect a connection to O.E. gieldan "to pay for, debt," but O.E.D. editors find this "inadmissible phonologically." The mistaken use for "sense of guilt" is first recorded 1690. Guilt by association first recorded 1941. Guilty is from O.E. gyltig, from gylt.
- suspicion
- late 13c., from Anglo-Fr. suspecioun, from O.Fr. suspeçun, sospeçon "mistrust, suspicion" (Fr. soupçon), from L. suspectionem (nom. suspectio) "mistrust, suspicion, fear, awe," from pp. stem of suspicere "look up at" (see suspect). Spelling in English influenced 14c. by learned O.Fr. forms closer to Latin suspicionem.
- harlot
- early 13c., "vagabond," from O.Fr. herlot, arlot "vagabond, tramp" (usually male in M.E. and O.Fr.), with forms in O.Prov. (arlot), O.Sp. arlote), and It. (arlotto), of unknown origin. Used in both positive and pejorative senses by Chaucer; applied to jesters, buffoons, jugglers, later to actors. Sense of "prostitute" probably had developed by 14c. but reinforced by use as euphemism for "strumpet, whore" in 16c. translations of the Bible. The word may be Gmc., with an original sense of "camp follower," if the first element is hari "army," as some suspect.
- afraid
- early 14c., originally pp. of afray "frighten," from Anglo-Fr. afrayer, from O.Fr. esfreer (see affray (n.)). A rare case of an English adjective that never stands before a noun. Because it was used in A.V. Bible, it acquired independent standing and thrived while affray faded, chasing out the once more common afeard (q.v.). Sense in I'm afraid "I regret to say, I suspect" (without implication of fear) is first recorded 1590s.
"Her blue affrayed eyes wide open shone" [Keats, "The Eve of St. Agnes," 1820]
- sub-
- prefix of L. origin meaning "under," from L. preposition sub "under" (also "close to, up to, towards"), from a variant form (*(s)up-, perhaps representing *ex-upo-) of PIE base *upo- "from below," hence "turning upward, upward, up, up from under, over, beyond" (cf. Skt. upa "near, under, up to, on," Gk. hypo "under," Goth. iup, O.N., O.E. upp "up, upward," Hittite up-zi "rises"). Used as a prefix and in various combinations. The original meaning is now obscured in many words from Latin (suggest, suspect, subject, etc.); the prefix is active in Mod. Eng., however, sometimes meaning "subordinate" (as in subcontinent, first recorded 1863) or "inferior" (a sense first attested 1963). Many such words are transparent (e.g. subcommittee, 1610) and etymologies of their root words may be found under those headings. As a word of its own, sub is first recorded 1830, as a shortened form of substitute (originally of printer's substitutes). The verb in this sense is from 1853.