sit: [OE] Sit comes from a prehistoric Germanic *sitjan or *setjan, which also produced German sitzen, Dutch zitten, Swedish sitta, and Danish sidde. This was derived from a base *set-, source also of English seat, set (etymologically ‘cause to sit’), and settle. And this in turn went back to the Indo-European base *sed- ‘sit’, which has contributed hugely to English vocabulary – mainly through its Latin descendant sedēre ‘sit’ (source of English assess, insidious, séance, session, size, subsidy, etc), but also via Welsh, in the form of eisteddfod.
It lies in addition behind English saddle and soot, and its other progeny include Russian sidet’, Serbo-Croat sjediti, and Latvian sēdēt ‘sit’. => assess, eisteddfod, insidious, saddle, séance, seat, session, set, settle, size, subsidy
sit (v.)
Old English sittan "to occupy a seat, be seated, sit down, seat oneself; remain, continue; settle, encamp, occupy; lie in wait; besiege" (class V strong verb; past tense sæt, past participle seten), from Proto-Germanic *setjan (cognates: Old Saxon sittian, Old Norse sitja, Danish sidde, Old Frisian sitta, Middle Dutch sitten, Dutch zitten, Old High German sizzan, German sitzen, Gothic sitan), from PIE root *sed- (1) "to sit" (see sedentary).
With past tense sat, formerly also set, now restricted to dialect, and sate, now archaic; and past participle sat, formerly sitten. In reference to a legislative assembly, from 1510s. Meaning "to baby-sit" is recorded from 1966.
To sit back "be inactive" is from 1943. To sit on one's hands was originally "to withhold applause" (1926); later, "to do nothing" (1959). To sit around "be idle, do nothing" is 1915, American English. To sit out "not take part" is from 1650s. Sitting pretty is from 1916.
双语例句
1. Teachers staged a sit-down protest in front of the president's office.
老师们在校长办公室门前举行了一场静坐抗议。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Let's sit down and then you can say what's up.
咱们先坐下来，然后你把事情告诉我。
来自柯林斯例句
3. We can't just sit by and watch you throw your life away.
我们不能眼睁睁地看着你毁掉自己的生活。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Now sit down and make yourself comfortable. You must be very tired.
