rare: Rare ‘uncommon’ [15] and rare ‘underdone’ [17] are not the same word. The former was borrowed from Latin rārus, which originally signified ‘having a loose texture, widely separated’ – hence ‘scarce’. It is not known what its ultimate source is. The latter is an alteration of the now obsolete rear ‘underdone’ (originally used mainly of eggs: ‘They had at their dinner rear eggs’, Book of the knight of the tower 1450), which goes back to Old English hrēr – again of unknown origin.
rare (adj.1)
"unusual," late 14c., "thin, airy, porous;" mid-15c., "few in number and widely separated, sparsely distributed, seldom found;" from Old French rere "sparse" (14c.), from Latin rarus "thinly sown, having a loose texture; not thick; having intervals between, full of empty spaces," from PIE *ra-ro-, from root *ere- "to separate; adjoin" (cognates: Sanskrit rte "besides, except," viralah "distant, tight, rare;" Old Church Slavonic rediku "rare," Old Hittite arhaš "border," Lithuanian irti "to be dissolved"). "Few in number," hence, "unusual." Related: Rareness. In chemistry, rare earth is from 1818.
rare (adj.2)
"undercooked," 1650s, variant of Middle English rere, from Old English hrere "lightly cooked," probably related to hreran "to stir, move, shake, agitate," from Proto-Germanic *hrorjan (cognates: Old Frisian hrera "to stir, move," Old Saxon hrorian, Dutch roeren, German rühren, Old Norse hroera), from PIE base *kere- "to mix, confuse; cook" (cognates: Greek kera- "to mix," krasis "mixture"). Originally of eggs, not recorded in reference to meat until 1784, and according to OED, in this sense "formerly often regarded as an Americanism, although it was current in many English dialects ...."
rare (v.)
"rise up," 1833, dialectal variant of rear (v.1). Sense of "eager" (in raring to go) first recorded 1909. Related: Rared; raring.
双语例句
1. It remained an exceptionally rare book until it was reprinted in 1918.
在1918年再版之前，这本书一直非常罕见。
来自柯林斯例句
2. It was a rare pleasure to see him in action.
看他打球是一种享受。
来自柯林斯例句
3. As we approached the summit we were vouchsafed a rare vision.
快到山顶时，我们有幸看到了难得一见的景象。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Rare birds preen themselves right in front of your camera.
很少有鸟类会在镜头面前梳理自己的羽毛。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Ferris has a rare ability to record her observations on paper.
