jewel: [13] Originally, jewel meant ‘costly adornment made from precious stones or metals’ – a sense now largely restricted to the collective form jewellery [14]. The main modern sense ‘gem’ emerged towards the end of the 16th century. The word comes from Anglo-Norman juel, but exactly where that came from is not known for certain. It is generally assumed to be a derivative of jeu ‘game’, which came from Latin jocus (source of English jocular, joke, etc). => jeopardy, jocular, joke
jewel (n.)
late 13c., "article of value used for adornment," from Anglo-French juel, Old French jouel "ornament, jewel" (12c.), perhaps from Medieval Latin jocale, from Latin jocus "pastime, sport," in Vulgar Latin "that which causes joy" (see joke (n.)). Another theory traces it to Latin gaudium, also with a notion of "rejoice" (see joy).
Sense of "precious stone" developed early 14c. Meaning "beloved person, admired woman" is late 14c. Colloquial family jewels "testicles" is from 1920s, but jewel as "testicle" dates to late 15c.
双语例句
1. Alan, you're a jewel.
艾伦，你真是出类拔萃呀。
来自柯林斯例句
2. He spent important money on a small jewel for his wife.
他花大笔钱购买小小的宝石给太太.
来自《简明英汉词典》
3. Doesn't he look like that man who's wanted for the jewel robbery?
他不是很像那个因抢劫珠宝而受到通缉的罪犯 吗 ?
来自《简明英汉词典》
4. The lowest estimate would put the worth of the jewel at ＄200.