agent: [15] Latin agere, a verb of great semantic breadth (‘drive, lead, act, do’), has been a prolific source of English words. Its past participle, āctus, produced act, action, active, actor, actual, cachet, and exact, while other parts of its paradigm lie behind agile, agitate, ambiguous, coagulate, cogent, cogitate, examine, exigent, exiguous, and prodigal.
Its most obvious offspring, however, are agent (literally ‘(person) doing something’) and agency, formed from the Latin present participial stem agent-. Agere itself is of considerable antiquity, being related to other Indo-European verbs such as Greek ágein ‘drive, lead’, Old Norse aka ‘travel in a vehicle’, and Sanskrit ájati ‘drives’. => act, agile, ambiguous, cachet, cogent, demagogue, exact, examine, prodigal
agent (n.)
late 15c., "one who acts," from Latin agentem (nominative agens) "effective, powerful," present participle of agere "to set in motion, drive, lead, conduct" (see act (n.)). Meaning "any natural force or substance which produces a phenomenon" is from 1550s. Meaning "deputy, representative" is from 1590s. Sense of "spy, secret agent" is attested by 1916.
agent (adj.)
1610s, from agent (n.).
双语例句
1. The agent spied for East Germany for more than twenty years.
该特工人员为东德做了20多年的间谍。
来自柯林斯例句
2. We went straight to the estate agent and wrote out a cheque.
我们径直到房地产经纪人那里开了一张支票。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Cheap flights are available from budget travel agent from £240.
收费低廉的旅行社可以提供240英镑起的低价机票。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Remember, the estate agent is working for the vendor.
记住,房地产代理商是为房地产卖方服务的。
来自柯林斯例句
5. My agent told me, "This'll make your name a household word."