curious (adj.)

14世纪中叶, “精巧, 老练”; 14世纪晚期, “渴望知道, 好奇, 渴望看到” (常有不好的含义), 也有“用或需要小心和艺术来锻制;” 来自古法语 curios “殷勤, 急切, 好奇; 古怪, 奇怪” (现代法语 curieux), 直接来自拉丁语 curiosus “小心, 勤奋; 急切地询问, 多管闲事”, 类似于 cura “关心” (见 cure (n.) ).

客观意义上的“激起好奇心” 到了1715年的英语. 在书商的目录中, 这个词是“情色, 色情” 的委婉说法(1877年); 这类材料被称为 curiosa (1883年), 拉丁文的中性复数 curiosus. 相关链接: Curiously; curiousness. Curiouser and curiouser 来自《爱丽丝梦游仙境历险记》(1865年).

Curious and inquisitive may be used in a good or a bad sense, but inquisitive is more often, and prying is only, found in the latter. Curious expresses only the desire to know; inquisitive, the effort to find out by inquiry; prying, the effort to find out secrets by looking and working in improper ways. [Century Dictionary]