• n. 阶级；班级；种类；班；等级
• vt. 分类；把…分等级；把…归入某等级，把…看作（或分类、归类）；把…编入某一班级
• adj. 极好的；很好的，优秀的，出色的
• vi. 属于…类（或等级），被列为某类（或某级）
• n. （英、德）克拉斯（人名）

来自PIE*kele,呼喊，呼叫，词源同call,claim.最早来自公元前6 世纪古罗马具有传奇色彩的 伟大首领Servius Tullius 对公民的财产，地位，收入等进行评估（参照census 词源），并依 据评估结果对公民划分社会阶级（classify），最终形成6 个阶级。前5 个阶级具有响应国家 军事号召参军入伍的资格，而最低等的阶级即马克思理论的无产阶级（参照proletarian 词源） 是不具有这种资格的，他们唯一的使命是为罗马帝国繁衍后代，在罗马帝国新占领的领土上 移民聚居。这一改革的结果废除了古罗马原有的3 个部落氏族（参照tribe 词源），使罗马 由氏族部落过渡到奴隶社会，军事实力大增。并引申诸多词义。

class

class: [16] Latin classis originally denoted ‘the people of Rome under arms, the ancient Roman army’; it appears to come from an earlier unrecorded *qladtis, a derivative of the base *qel- ‘call’, which points to an underlying sense ‘call to arms’. Under the terms of the constitution attributed to Servius Tullius, a 6thcentury BC king of Rome, the army, and hence the people, was divided into six such classes, membership of each based originally on the amount of land held, and latterly on wealth in money terms.

English first adopted the word in this antiquarian sense (which provided the basis for the modern application to social class), but its widespread use in the language probably began in the sense ‘group of pupils’. The derivatives classic [17] and classical [16] come from Latin classicus, probably via French classique; in Latin, the adjective signified ‘of the highest class of Roman citizen’, whence the word’s presentday approbatory connotations.

class (n.)

c. 1600, "group of students," from French classe (14c.), from Latin classis "a class, a division; army, fleet," especially "any one of the six orders into which Servius Tullius divided the Roman people for the purpose of taxation;" traditionally originally "the people of Rome under arms" (a sense attested in English from 1650s), and thus akin to calare "to call (to arms)," from PIE root *kele- (2) "to shout" (see claim (v.)). In early use in English also in Latin form classis.

School and university sense of "course, lecture" (1650s) is from the notion of a form or lecture reserved to scholars who had attained a certain level. Natural history sense is from 1753. Meaning "a division of society according to status" (upper, lower, etc.) is from 1772. Meaning "high quality" is from 1847. Class-consciousness (1903) is from German klassenbewusst.

class (v.)

1705, "to divide into classes," from class (n.) or French classer. Sense of "to place into a class" is from 1776. Related: Classed; classing.

1. The price includes two economy class airfares from Brisbane to Los Angeles.

这一价格包括两张从布里斯班到洛杉矶的经济舱机票。

来自柯林斯例句

2. There was very little snobbery or class-consciousness in the wartime navy.

战时的海军中很少有势利眼，阶级意识也不强。

来自柯林斯例句

3. He was not perhaps physically the strongest in the class.

他可能不是全班身体最壮的。

来自柯林斯例句

4. You can pay to be upgraded to a business class seat.

你可以付费升级到商务舱。

来自柯林斯例句

5. He suggested a link between class size and test results of seven-year-olds.

他认为7岁大的学生的测试分数和班级的规模有关系。

来自柯林斯例句