havoc: [15] The ancestry of havoc is a mystery, but it seems originally to have been an exclamation, probably Germanic, used as a signal to begin plundering. This was adopted into Old French as havot, which was used in the phrase crier havot ‘shout ‘havot’,’ hence ‘let loose destruction and plunder’. Havot became altered in Anglo-Norman to havok, the form in which English adopted it; and in due course cry havoc gave rise to the independent use of havoc as ‘destruction, devastation’.
havoc (n.)
early 15c., from the expression cry havoc "give the signal to pillage" (Anglo-French crier havok, late 14c.). Havok, the signal to soldiers to seize plunder, is from Old French havot "pillaging, looting" (in crier havot), which is related to haver "to seize, grasp," hef "hook," probably from a Germanic source (see hawk (n.)), or from Latin habere "to have, possess." General sense of "devastation" first recorded late 15c.
双语例句
1. The sudden onset of winter caused havoc with rail and air transport.
冬天的突然降临让铁路和航空运输系统陷入混乱。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The weather played havoc with airline schedules.
天气打乱了航空公司的航班安排。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Stress can wreak havoc on the immune system.
压力可能会破坏免疫系统。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Drug addiction soon played havoc with his career.