abroadyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[abroad 词源字典]
abroad: [13] It was only in the 15th century that abroad came to mean ‘in foreign parts’. Earlier, it had been used for ‘out of doors’, a sense still current today, if with a rather archaic air; but originally it meant ‘widely’ or ‘about’ (as in ‘noise something abroad’). It was formed quite simply from a ‘on’ and the adjective broad, although it was probably modelled on the much earlier (Old English) phrase on brede, in which brede was a noun, meaning ‘breadth’.
=> broad[abroad etymology, abroad origin, 英语词源]
abroad (adv.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
mid-13c., "widely apart," from Old English on brede, which meant something like "at wide" (see a- (1) + broad (adj.)). The sense "out of doors, away from home" (late 14c.) led to the main modern sense of "out of one's country, overseas" (mid-15c.).