beef

词源同bovine, 牛的。

beef

beef: [13] Like mutton, pork, and veal, beef was introduced by the Normans to provide a dainty alternative to the bare animal names ox, cow, etc when referring to their meat. Anglo-Norman and Old French boef or buef (which of course became modern French boeuf) came from Latin bov-, the stem of bōs ‘ox’, from which English gets bovine [19] and Bovril [19]. Bōs itself is actually related etymologically to cow. The compound beefeater ‘yeoman warder of the Tower of London’ was coined in the 17th century; it was originally a contemptuous term for a ‘well-fed servant’.
=> bovine, cow

beef (n.)

c. 1300, from Old French buef "ox; beef; ox hide" (11c., Modern French boeuf), from Latin bovem (nominative bos, genitive bovis) "ox, cow," from PIE root *gwou- "cow, ox, bull" (see cow (n.)). Original plural was beeves.

beef (v.)

"to complain," slang, 1888, American English, from noun meaning "complaint" (1880s). The noun meaning "argument" is recorded from 1930s. The origin and signification are unclear; perhaps it traces to the common late 19c. complaint of U.S. soldiers about the quantity or quality of beef rations.

1. They used to buy ten kilos of beef in one lump.

他们过去常买10公斤重的整块牛肉。

2. A tantalising aroma of roast beef fills the air.

空气中充满诱人的烤牛肉香味。

3. Beef now costs well over 30 roubles a pound.

牛肉现在卖到了每磅30多卢布。

4. They bought so much beef that some went bad.

他们买了太多牛肉，有些都变质了。

5. Some of the commercially produced venison resembles beef in flavour.

有些商业化养殖的鹿肉味道和牛肉很相似。