subtract: [16] To subtract something is etymologically to ‘pull it away’. The word comes from subtractus, the past participle of Latin subtrahere ‘pull away’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix sub-, usually ‘under’ but here used in the sense ‘away’, and trahere ‘pull’ (source of English traction, tractor, trait, etc). The strictly mathematical use of the word is a post-Latin development. => contract, retract, traction, tractor, trait
subtract (v.)
1530s, "withdraw, withhold, take away, deduct," a back-formation from subtraction (q.v.), or else from Latin subtractus, past participle of subtrahere "take away, draw off." Related: Subtracted; subtracting. Mathematical calculation sense is from 1550s. Earlier verb form was subtraien (early 15c. in the mathematical sense), which is directly from the Latin verb.
Here he teches þe Craft how þou schalt know, whan þou hast subtrayd, wheþer þou hast wel ydo or no. ["Craft of Numbering," c. 1425]
雙語例句
1. Please subtract a quarter of the money for your own use.
請從你的零用錢中扣除四分之一.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
2. Subtract four from nine and you have five.
九減四得五.
來自《現代漢英綜合大詞典》
3. In their first year at school, most children learn to add and subtract.
入學第一年, 多數孩子都學加減法.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
4. When you subtract two numbers, you subtract a subtrahend from a minuend.
當你作兩個數的減法時, 你用一個被減數去減另一個減數.
來自辭典例句
5. The little girl has begun to learn to add and subtract.