lung: [OE] Lungs, insubstantial air-filled sacs, got their name because they weigh so little. It comes ultimately from Indo-European *lnggh-, a variant of which produced English light ‘not heavy’. In prehistoric Germanic this became *lungg-, which over the centuries has differentiated to German lunge, Dutch long, Swedish lunga, and English lung. The similarly motivated use of the word lights for ‘lungs’ dates from the 12th century; it is now restricted to ‘animals’ lungs used as food’, but it was formerly a general term. => light
lung (n.)
"human respiratory organ," c. 1300, from Old English lungen (plural), from Proto-Germanic *lungw- (cognates: Old Norse lunge, Old Frisian lungen, Middle Dutch longhe, Dutch long, Old High German lungun, German lunge "lung"), literally "the light organ," from PIE *legwh- "not heavy, having little weight; easy, agile, nimble" (cognates: Russian lëgkij, Polish lekki "light;" Russian lëgkoje "lung," Greek elaphros "light" in weight; see also lever).
The notion probably is from the fact that, when thrown into a pot of water, lungs of a slaughtered animal float, while the heart, liver, etc., do not. Compare also Portuguese leve "lung," from Latin levis "light;" Irish scaman "lungs," from scaman "light;" Welsh ysgyfaint "lungs," from ysgafn "light." See also lights, pulmonary. Lung cancer attested from 1882.
双语例句
1. 10,000 deaths a year from chronic lung disease are attributable to smoking.
吸烟导致每年有1万人死于慢性肺病。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Lung cells die and are replaced about once a week.
肺细胞约每周新老更替一次。
来自柯林斯例句
3. He was rushed to hospital last week after suffering a collapsed lung.
上星期，他因出现肺萎陷而被火速送进医院。
来自柯林斯例句
4. There is an acknowledged risk of lung cancer from radon.
