ferry: [12] A ferry is etymologically a boat on which you ‘travel’ from one place to another. The word comes ultimately from the Indo- European base *por- ‘going, passage’, which has produced a wide range of other English words, including emporium, ford, and port. Its Germanic descendant was *fer- ‘go’, source of English fare as well as ferry. Ferry itself was probably borrowed from the Old Norse element ferju-, denoting ‘passage across water’, and that was what it at first meant in English.
The word’s main modern use, which is essentially an abbreviation of ferry-boat, is not recorded before the 16th century, and does not seem to have really become established until the 20th century. => emporium, fare, ford, port
ferry (v.)
Old English ferian "to carry, convey, bring, transport" (in late Old English, especially over water), from Proto-Germanic *farjan "to ferry" (cognates: Old Frisian feria "carry, transport," Old Norse ferja "to pass over, to ferry," Gothic farjan "travel by boat"), from PIE root *per- (2) "to lead, pass over" (see port (n.1)). Related to fare (v.). Related: Ferried; ferries; ferrying.
ferry (n.)
early 15c., "a passage over a river," from the verb or from Old Norse ferju-, in compounds, "passage across water," ultimately from the same Germanic root as ferry (v.). Meaning "place where boats pass over a body of water" is from mid-15c. The sense "boat or raft to convey passengers and goods short distances across a body of water" (1580s) is a shortening of ferry boat (mid-15c.).
双语例句
1. The ferry service has restarted after an interval of 12 years.
时隔12年之后，轮渡服务又重新开通了。
来自柯林斯例句
2. She was going to Nanaimo to catch the ferry to the mainland.
她准备去纳奈莫乘渡船回大陆。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The ferry did not even have time to send out an SOS.
渡船甚至连发出紧急呼救信号的时间都没有。
来自柯林斯例句
4. He stowed away on a ferry and landed in North Shields.