contrary（adj.）
14世纪中期，“相反的，对立的，在相反的点或方向上； 极不相似，最不相似”，源自盎格鲁-法语 contrarie，古法语 contrarie，直接源自拉丁语 contrarius “相反的，对立的； 相反的，反向的”，源自 contra “反对”（见 contra）。意思是“爱反驳的，倔强的，难以驾驭的”来自14世纪晚期； “不利的，不利的”意思来自14世纪晚期。相关： Contrarily。
作为名词，来自13世纪晚期，“一对字符、命题、术语等中最不同的一个”。短语 on the contrary “与所说的完全相反”自约1400年以来被证明为 in the contrary。
If we take the statement All men are mortal, its contrary is Not all men are mortal, its converse is All mortal beings are men, & its opposite is No men are mortal. The contrary, however, does not exclude the opposite, but includes it as its most extreme form. Thus This is white has only one opposite, This is black, but many contraries, as This is not white, This is coloured, This is dirty, This is black; & whether the last form is called the contrary, or more emphatically the opposite, is usually indifferent. But to apply the opposite to a mere contrary (e.g. to I did not hit him in relation to I hit him, which has no opposite), or to the converse (e.g. to He hit me in relation to I hit him, to which it is neither contrary nor opposite), is a looseness that may easily result in misunderstanding; the temptation to go wrong is intelligible when it is remembered that with certain types of sentence (A exceeds B) the converse & the opposite are identical (B exceeds A). [Fowler]
如果我们接受 All men are mortal 这个陈述，它的相反是 Not all men are mortal，它的转化是 All mortal beings are men，而它的相反是 No men are mortal。然而，相反并不排除相反，而是将其包括在其最极端的形式中。因此， This is white 只有一个相反的， This is black，但有许多相反的，如 This is not white, This is coloured, This is dirty, This is black； 而最后一种形式是被称为 contrary，或更强调的 opposite 通常是无关紧要的。但是，将 the opposite 应用于仅仅相反的（例如，与 I hit him 无关的 I did not hit him 相对），或者与转化（例如，与它既不相反也不相反的 He hit me 相对）是一种松散的做法，这可能很容易导致误解； 当记住对于某些类型的句子（A exceeds B）转化和相反是相同的（B exceeds A）时，犯错的诱惑是可以理解的。[福勒]
该词起源时间：14世纪中期