centre

英 ['sentə] 美['sentər]

CET4TEM4考研CET6核心词汇高频词

复数: centres;第三人称单数: centres;过去式: centred;过去分词: centred;现在分词: centring;

centre: centre: [14] The word centre came originally from the spike of a pair of compasses which is stuck into a surface while the other arm describes a circle round it. Greek kéntron meant ‘sharp point’, or more specifically ‘goad for oxen’ (it was a derivative of the verb kentein ‘prick’), and hence was applied to a compass spike; and it was not long before this spread metaphorically to ‘mid-point of a circle’. The word reached English either via Old French centre or directly from Latin centrum. The derived adjective central is 16th-century.
=> eccentric
centre: chiefly British English spelling of center (q.v.); for ending, see -re.

1. Malvolio becomes, in default of competition, the play's moral centre.: 因为没有与其竞争者，马伏里奥自然成了该剧的道德核心。

2. The new shopping centre was constructed at a cost of 1.1 million.: 新建成的购物中心耗资110万。