gem: [14] Gem comes via Old French gemme from Latin gemma. This originally meant ‘bud’, and the sense ‘precious stone’ was only a secondary metaphorical extension. The underlying semantic stratum still appears in such botanical terms as gemmation ‘formation of buds’ [18].
gem (n.)
"a precious stone" (especially when cut or polished), c. 1300, probably from Old French gemme (12c.), from Latin gemma "precious stone, jewel," originally "bud," from Proto-Italic *gebma- "bud, sprout," from PIE *geb-m- "sprout, bud" (cognates: Lithuanian žembeti "to germinate, sprout," Old Church Slavonic prozebnoti "to germinate"). The two competing traditional etymologies trace it either to the root *gembh- "tooth, nail; to bite" [Watkins] or *gem- "'to press." De Vaan finds the second "semantically unconvincing" and leans toward the first despite the difficult sense connection. Of persons, "a rare or excellent example (of something)" from late 13c. Alternative forms iemme, gimme persisted into 14c. and might represent a survival of Old English gimm "precious stone, gem, jewel," also "eye," which was borrowed directly from Latin gemma.
gem (v.)
c. 1600, "to adorn with gems;" earlier (mid-12c.) "to bud," from gem (n.). Related: Gemmed; gemming.
实用例句
1. Miss Famous, as she was called, was a gem.
“知名小姐”人如其名，是个尤物。
来自柯林斯例句
2. " Oh , thank you!'she enthused gratefully. " You're a real gem, a diamond of the first water. ”
“ 谢谢! ” 她表示感激热情洋溢地说, “ 你真是一个被人尊敬的人, 第一流的好人. ”
来自《简明英汉词典》
3. The Provincial government granted us the right to gem the whole river.
