duty: [13] Duty comes from Anglo-Norman dueté. This was a derivative of Old French deu ‘owed’ (source of English due [13]), which in turn came from Latin dēbitus, past participle of dēbēre ‘owe’ and source of English debit and debt. (Latin dēbēre was originally a compound verb formed from the prefix dē- ‘away’ and habēre ‘have’, literally ‘have away’, that is ‘keep in one’s possession what belongs to someone else’.) So etymologically one’s duty is what one ‘owes’ to others. => debit, debt, due
duty (n.)
late 13c., from Anglo-French duete, from Old French deu "due, owed; proper, just," from Vulgar Latin *debutus, from Latin debitus, past participle of debere "to owe" (see debt). Related: Duties. The sense of "tax or fee on imports, exports, etc." is from late 15c.; duty-free as a noun is attested from 1958.
实用例句
1. They clocked off duty and left at ten to three.
他们打卡下班，于2点50分离开。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The first duty of a director is to recce his location.
主管的第一项任务是熟悉所在地区的情况。
来自柯林斯例句
3. He had a third examination and was declared unfit for duty.
他接受了第三次检查，被告知不宜上班。
来自柯林斯例句
4. My mother waxed eloquent on the theme of wifely duty.
