raft

英 [rɑːft] 美[ræft]

常用词汇低频词TOEFLIELTSTEM8CET6+

复数: rafts;

1. life raft 救生筏
2. bamboo raft 竹筏；竹排

raft 木排，阀子

来自古诺斯语 raptr,木排，阀子，来自 PIE*rep,柱子，桩子。

raft: raft: [15] The ancestor of raft meant ‘beam, rafter’. This was Old Norse raptr. Not until it got into English, apparently, was it used for a ‘craft made by tying logs together’. (It should not, incidentally, be confused with the mainly American raft ‘large collection, lot’ [19], which is an alteration of Scottish English raff ‘rubbish’ – probable source of English raffish [19]. This too may well be of Scandinavian origin – Swedish has rafs ‘rubbish’.) Rafter [OE] comes from a Germanic source that was probably also responsible for raft.
=> raffish, rafter
raft (n.1): "floating platform," late 15c., originally "rafter" (c. 1300), from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse raptr "log" (Old Norse -pt- pronounced as -ft-), related to Middle Low German rafter, rachter "rafter" (see rafter).
raft (n.2): "large collection," 1830, variant of raff "heap, large amount," from Middle English raf (compare raffish, riffraff); form and sense associated with raft (n.1).
raft (v.): 1680s, from raft (n.1). Related: Rafted; rafting.

3. The raft gathered speed as the current dragged it toward the falls.: 水流将木筏拽向瀑布，木筏的速度越来越快。