filigree: [17] Etymologically, filigree describes very accurately how filigree was originally made: it was delicate ornamental work constructed from threads (Latin filum) and beads (Latin grānum ‘grain, seed’). The Italian descendants of these two Latin words were combined to form filigrana, which passed into English via French as filigrane. This gradually metamorphosed through filigreen to filigree. => file, grain
filigree (n.)
1690s, shortening of filigreen (1660s), from French filigrane "filigree" (17c.), from Italian filigrana, from Latin filum "thread, wire" (see file (v.1)) + granum "grain" (see corn (n.1)). Related: Filigreed.
雙語例句
1. The filigree, presumably by virtue of these fields, completely alters the structure of the granulation.