fair

将“fair”与“ brightly”中的“bright”部分联系起来，想象“fair”如同一片明亮、公平的天地，阳光下进行的公平审判或竞赛，以此帮助记忆其意思为“公平的”。

fair 美丽的，漂亮的，公平的

缩写自古英语faeger, 美丽的，漂亮的，来自PIE*pek, 使美丽，漂亮。词义由美丽引申为公平，公正。比较very, 原义为真实的，even, 原义为平的。

fair 集市，庙会

来自拉丁语feriae, 宗教节目，宗教集会，词源同festival.

fair

fair: English has two distinct words fair, one Germanic and the other Romance. The older, meaning ‘beautiful’ [OE], comes from a prehistoric Germanic *fagraz, which survives also in Swedish fager ‘beautiful’. It derived from a base *fag-, which seems originally to have meant ‘fitting, suitable’ (a variant of it was the ultimate source of fake and possibly also of the now archaic noun fig ‘clothes, array’, as in ‘in full fig’).

Of its main present-day meanings, ‘just, equitable’ developed in the 14th century and ‘not dark’ in the mid 16th century. Fair ‘festive event’ [13] comes from Old French feire. This was a descendant of late Latin fēria, a singular use of a noun which in classical times had been used in the plural, fēriae, for ‘holiday’. A close relative of fēriae was the adjective festus ‘joyous’, source of English feast, festival, festoon, and fête.
=> fake, feast, festival, festoon, fête, fig

fair (adj.)

Old English fæger "pleasing to the sight (of persons and body features, also of objects, places, etc.); beautiful, handsome, attractive," of weather, "bright, clear, pleasant; not rainy," also in late Old English "morally good," from Proto-Germanic *fagraz (cognates: Old Saxon fagar, Old Norse fagr, Swedish fager, Old High German fagar "beautiful," Gothic fagrs "fit"), perhaps from PIE *pek- (1) "to make pretty" (cognates: Lithuanian puošiu "I decorate").

The meaning in reference to weather preserves the oldest sense "suitable, agreeable" (opposed to foul (adj.)). Of the main modern senses of the word, that of "light of complexion or color of hair and eyes, not dusky or sallow" (of persons) is from c. 1200, faire, contrasted to browne and reflecting tastes in beauty. From early 13c. as "according with propriety; according with justice," hence "equitable, impartial, just, free from bias" (mid-14c.).

Of wind, "not excessive; favorable for a ship's passage," from late 14c. Of handwriting from 1690s. From c. 1300 as "promising good fortune, auspicious." Also from c. 1300 as "above average, considerable, sizable." From 1860 as "comparatively good."

The sporting senses (fair ball, fair catch, etc.) began to appear in 1856. Fair play is from 1590s but not originally in sports. Fair-haired in the figurative sense of "darling, favorite" is from 1909. First record of fair-weather friends is from 1736 (in a letter from Pope published that year, written in 1730). The fair sex "women" is from 1660s, from the "beautiful" sense (fair as a noun meaning "a woman" is from early 15c.). Fair game "legitimate target" is from 1776, from hunting.

Others, who have not gone to such a height of audacious wickedness, have yet considered common prostitutes as fair game, which they might pursue without restraint. ["Advice from a Father to a Son, Just Entered into the Army and about to Go Abroad into Action," London, 1776]

fair (n.)

"a stated market in a town or city; a regular meeting to buy, sell, or trade," early 14c., from Anglo-French feyre (late 13c.), from Old French feire, faire "fair, market; feast day," from Vulgar Latin *feria "holiday, market fair," from Latin feriae "religious festivals, holidays," related to festus "solemn, festive, joyous" (see feast (n.)).

fair (adv.)

Old English fægere "beautifully," from fæger "beautiful" (see fair (adj.)). From c. 1300 as "honorably;" mid-14c. as "cor

1. I have a fair idea of how difficult things can be.

我大致了解情况会有多困难。

2. The team also won praise for sportsmanship and fair play.

该队还因其良好的体育精神及公平竞争精神而受到了表扬。

3. Frank Deford is a contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine.

弗兰克·德福特是杂志《名利场》的特约编辑。

4. It's a fair guess to say that the damage will be extensive.

说损失会很严重想必猜得不错。

5. The signs suggest that the elections will be non-violent and fair.

种种迹象表明选举将会是非暴力的、公正的。

【just, impartial, objective, neutral, fair】
这组词都有“公正的，公平的，不偏不倚的”的意思，其区别是：
just: 多用于庄重场合，指不受个人利益得失或感情倾向的影响，侧重按照公认的准则或标准处理问题。
impartial: 侧重对任何人或任何一方没有成见或偏袒。
objective: 着重客观、真实，不为个人偏见、兴趣、感情或看法所左右。
neutral: 强调持中立态度，不偏袒任何一方，甚至不作最后的裁决。
fair: 普通常用词，指不偏不倚地对待人和物，侧重不受个人感情、偏见或利益所影响。

【exposition, display, show, exhibition, fair, exhibit】
这组词都有“展览”的意思，其区别是：
exposition: 多指大型博览会或国际博览会。
display: 指展销会，商店橱窗或柜台上的陈列品。
show: 指艺术品、农产品、工业品或商品等的任何形式的公开展览。
exhibition: 一般指较正规的展览会。
fair: 侧重指为促销商品而举办的展览会或商品交易会。
exhibit: 多指个人或团体陈列的展览品，规模可大可小。

【beautiful, lovely, handsome, fine, pretty, fair】
这组词都有“美丽的，漂亮的”的意思，其区别是：
beautiful: 普通用词，含义广泛，语气最强，指优美和谐，是一种几乎接近完美的美。指人时通常形容女人或小孩，很少用于描写男子。
lovely: 普通用词，描写人时，主要指女人和小孩的相貌，语气不如beautiful强。
handsome: 多用于描写男性的英俊潇洒。有时也形容女人，指其五官端正，体态秀丽。
fine: 指在容貌、身材或风度等方面令人感到可爱。用于事物时，强调形式或内容的优美。
pretty: 普通用词，语气比beautiful弱，多用于描写妇女、儿童以及小巧玲珑，精美可爱之物。
fair: 正式用词，多用于文学中，形容女子和儿童，侧重外表的美。

【market, fair】
这组词都有“集市，市场”的意思，其区别是：
market: 指人们购买货品的地方，经常出售商品的市场。
fair: 一般指在乡村小镇定期举行的买卖牛羊或农产品等的集市。现引申指国际性的博览会、交易会等。