habit

记忆“habit”可以采用形象联想法：想象一个习惯像是一根小草（hab-it），从“have”的根部（have it，意为“拥有”）逐渐长出来，最终形成了稳定的形态。这样就能联想到“habit”指的是“习惯”或“习性”。

habit 习惯，瘾，长袍，道服

来自古法语habit,衣服，行为，习惯，来自拉丁语habere,持，握，拥有，来自PIE*ghabh,持，握，抓住，词源同give,gift.引申词义居住，养成的习惯，及特指与宗教相关的袍子，道服等。

habit

habit: [13] Etymologically, a habit is ‘what one has’. The word comes via Old French abit from Latin habitus, originally the past participle of the verb habēre ‘have’. This was used reflexively for ‘be’, and so the past participle came to be used as a noun for ‘how one is’ – one’s ‘state’ or ‘condition’. Subsequently this developed along the lines of both ‘outward condition or appearance’, hence ‘clothing’, and ‘inner condition, quality, nature, character’, later ‘usual way of behaving’.

This proliferation of meaning took place in Latin, and was taken over lock, stock, and barrel by English, although the ‘clothing’ sense now survives only in relation to monks, nuns, and horseriders. (Incidentally, the notion of adapting the verb have to express ‘how one is, how one comports oneself’ recurs in behave.) Derived from Latin habitus was the verb habitāre, originally literally ‘have something frequently or habitually’, hence ‘live in a place’.

This has given English habitation [14], inhabit [14], and also habitat [18], literally ‘it dwells’, the third person present singular of habitāre, which was used in medieval and Renaissance books on natural history to describe the sort of place in which a particular species lived. Malady [13] comes via Old French from an unrecorded Vulgar Latin *male habitus ‘in bad condition’.
=> habitat, inhabit, malady

habit (n.)

early 13c., "characteristic attire of a religious or clerical order," from Old French habit, abit "clothing, (ecclesiastical) habit; conduct" (12c.), from Latin habitus "condition, demeanor, appearance, dress," originally past participle of habere "to have, hold, possess; wear; find oneself, be situated; consider, think, reason, have in mind; manage, keep," from PIE root *ghabh- "to give; to receive" (cognates: Sanskrit gabhasti- "hand, forearm;" Old Irish gaibim "I take, hold, I have," gabal "act of taking;" Lithuanian gabana "armful," gabenti "to remove;" Gothic gabei "riches;" Old English giefan, Old Norse gefa "to give"). The basic sense of the root probably is "to hold," which can be either in offering or in taking.

Meaning "clothing generally" is from late 14c. Meaning "customary practice, usual mode of action" is early 14c. Drug sense is from 1887. The Latin word was applied to both inner and outer states of being, and both senses were taken in English, though meaning of "dress" now is restricted to monks and nuns. In 19c. it also was used of the costume worn by women when riding on horseback.

habit (v.)

mid-14c., "to dwell, reside; dwell in" (obsolete), from Old French habiter, abiter "to dwell, inhabit; have dealings with," from Latin habitare "to live, dwell; stay, remain," frequentative of habere "to have, to hold, possess" (see habit (n.)). Meaning "to dress" is from 1580s. Related: Habited; habiting.

1. She's kicked her drug habit and learned that her life has value.

她已经戒了毒，并且认识到了生命可贵。

2. Try to get into the habit of saving your work regularly.

要努力养成经常将工作内容存盘的习惯。

3. Let's face it — drinking is a socially acceptable habit.

我们面对现实吧——饮酒是一种为社会所接受的习俗。

4. From ingrained habit he paused to straighten up the bed.

出于长期的习惯，他停下来整理床铺。

5. Owen had the habit of staring motionlessly at his interlocutor.

欧文谈话时有一动不动、目不转睛地盯着对方的习惯。

【habit, practice, tradition, convention, usage, manners, custom】
这组词都有“习惯，风俗，传统”的意思，其区别是：
habit: 侧重于自然养成的，不易去掉的个人习惯。
practice: 常指习惯性的做法或行为。
tradition: 广义指世代相传的伦理、行为规范和生活方式，特指因长久奉行而几乎具有法律效力的习惯、习俗，侧重历史意义。
convention: 多指约定俗成的行为方式规则或公认的标准，或指艺术上公认的技巧。
usage: 指持续时间长，为很多人公认采纳的惯例、习俗。
manners: 指在某一时期或某一团体中盛行的社会礼仪或社会风俗模式。
custom: 指一个国家、一个民族、一个地区或一个社会的习惯、行为方式或风俗习惯。也可指个人的习惯。