feature: [14] Feature comes ultimately from Latin factūra, a derivative of the verb facere ‘do, make’ which meant literally ‘making, formation’. Elements of this original sense remained when the word reached English via Old French faiture – when John Dymmok wrote in 1600 of ‘horses of a fine feature’, for example, he was referring to their shape or general conformation – but already a semantic narrowing down to the ‘way in which the face is shaped’ had taken place.
This meaning was then distributed, as it were, to the individual components of the face, and hence (in the 17th century) to any distinctive or characteristic part. => difficult, fact, factory, fashion, feasible, feat
feature (n.)
early 14c., "make, form, fashion" (obsolete), from Anglo-French feture, from Old French faiture "deed, action; fashion, shape, form; countenance," from Latin factura "a formation, a working," from past participle stem of facere "make, do, perform" (see factitious).
Sense of "facial characteristic" is mid-14c.; that of "any distinctive part" first recorded 1690s. Entertainment sense is from 1801; in journalism by 1855. Meaning "a feature film" is from 1913. Latin factura also is the source of Spanish hechura, Portuguese feitura, Italian fattura.
feature (v.)
1755, "to resemble, have features resembling," from feature (n.). The sense of "make special display or attraction of" is 1888; entertainment sense from 1897. Related: Featured; featuring.
双语例句
1. The most arresting feature is the painted wall decoration.
最醒目的特点是绘有图画的墙面装饰。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Wanton violence is now becoming a regular feature of urban life.
肆无忌惮的暴行在城市生活中越来越司空见惯。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Television companies tend to censor bad language in feature films.
电视公司往往会在审查故事片时删去其中的粗话。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The festival will feature pyrotechnics, live music, and sculptures.
节日里将有烟花表演、现场音乐会和雕塑展。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The saddles feature a reflective trim for night time visibility.
