Quadrant

来自Big Physics

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late Middle English (denoting the astronomical instrument): from Latin quadrans, quadrant- ‘quarter’, from quattuor ‘four’.


Ety img quadrant.png

wiktionary

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Borrowed from Latin quadrantem, accusative singular of quadrāns(“fourth part of something, quarter”).


etymonline

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quadrant (n.)

late 14c., "a quarter of a day, six hours," from Old French quadrant, cadran, name of a Roman coin, also "a sundial," from Latin quadrantem (nominative quadrans) "a fourth part, a quarter," also the name of a coin worth a quarter of an as; noun use of the present participle of quadrare "to make square; put in order, arrange, complete; run parallel, be exact," figuratively "to fit, suit, be proper," related to quadrus "a square," quattuor "four" (from PIE root *kwetwer- "four").


From 1570s as "the quarter of a circle, the arc of a circle containing 90 degrees." The ancient surveying instrument for measuring altitudes is so called from c. 1400, because it forms a quarter circle. Related: Quadrantal.