robot: [20] Robot is a Czech contribution to English. It comes from robota ‘forced labour, drudgery’, a word related to German arbeit ‘work’. It was used by the Czech dramatist Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) 1920 for ‘mechanical people constructed to do menial tasks’. English acquired it via German robot, and the first record of it in an English text comes from 1923.
robot (n.)
1923, from English translation of 1920 play "R.U.R." ("Rossum's Universal Robots"), by Karel Capek (1890-1938), from Czech robotnik "slave," from robota "forced labor, compulsory service, drudgery," from robotiti "to work, drudge," from an Old Czech source akin to Old Church Slavonic rabota "servitude," from rabu "slave," from Old Slavic *orbu-, from PIE *orbh- "pass from one status to another" (see orphan). The Slavic word thus is a cousin to German Arbeit "work" (Old High German arabeit). According to Rawson the word was popularized by Karel Capek's play, "but was coined by his brother Josef (the two often collaborated), who used it initially in a short story."
实用例句
1. They have docked a robot module alongside the orbiting space station.
他们已经将一个自动操作舱与沿轨道运行的空间站并行对接上了。
来自柯林斯例句
2. They built a robot capable of understanding spoken commands.
他们制造了一个能懂口头指令的机器人.
来自《简明英汉词典》
3. She worked like a robot.
她工作起来如同一个机器人.
来自《简明英汉词典》
4. The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.
机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹.
来自《简明英汉词典》
5. Also from the Slavonic family of languages comes " robot " , a Czech word in origin.
