来自拉丁短语rota dialis, daily wheel (rotate diurnal )，一种古代测太阳运转的日晷，后用来指相关圆形物体。比较印度奥里萨邦Konark Sun Temple, 在入口处可见一巨大的日晷石雕，再往里依次是梳洗图，劳作图，性爱图，即人一天的作息规律。
英文词源
dial
dial: [15] The original application of the word dial in English is ‘sundial’. The evidence for its prehistory is patchy, but it is generally presumed to have come from medieval Latin diālis ‘daily’, a derivative of Latin diēs ‘day’, the underlying notion being that it records the passage of a 24- hour period.
dial (n.)
early 15c., "sundial," earlier "dial of a compass" (mid-14c.), apparently from Medieval Latin dialis "daily," from Latin dies "day" (see diurnal).
The word perhaps was abstracted from a phrase such as Medieval Latin rota dialis "daily wheel," and evolved to mean any round plate over which something rotates. Telephone sense is from 1879, which led to dial tone (1921), "the signal to begin dialing," which term soon might be the sole relic of the rotary phone.
dial (v.)
1650s, "to work with aid of a dial or compass," from dial (n.). Telephone sense is from 1923. Related: Dialed; dialing.
实用例句
1. Simply dial the number and tell us your area.
只需拨这个号码告诉我们你在什么地方。
来自柯林斯例句
2. She picked up the phone, and began to dial Maurice Campbell's number.
她拿起电话听筒，开始拨打莫里斯·坎贝尔的号码。
来自柯林斯例句
3. At the center of the dial is a piece of smoky glass.
