来自拉丁语monere,警告，词源同admonish,monitor.-ster,贬义后缀。用于指怪物，恶魔，在古代出现反常的现象或怪物通常意味着上帝对人的警告。

monster

monster: [13] Monster originated as a word for a ‘divine omen or warning’. It goes back via Old French monstre to Latin mōnstrum, a derivative of the verb monēre ‘warn’. From its original sense ‘warning of misfortune, evil omen’, mōnstrum was transferred to the sort of thing that could function as such an omen – a ‘prodigy’, or a ‘misshapen or horrifying creature’ – whence the meaning of English monster.

The word’s connotations of ‘largeness’ seem to be rather more recent, first emerging in English in the 16th century. Other English derivatives of mōnstrum, some of them reflecting a later sense of monēre, ‘show, inform’, rather than the original ‘warn’, include demonstrate [16], monstrance [16], muster [13] (which originally meant ‘display’), and remonstrate [16].

And from monēre itself come admonish, monitor [16], monument [13], premonition [16], and summon [13].
=> admonish, demonstrate, monitor, monument, muster, premonition, remonstrate, summon

monster (n.)

early 14c., "malformed animal or human, creature afflicted with a birth defect," from Old French monstre, mostre "monster, monstrosity" (12c.), and directly from Latin monstrum "divine omen, portent, sign; abnormal shape; monster, monstrosity," figuratively "repulsive character, object of dread, awful deed, abomination," from root of monere "warn" (see monitor (n.)). Abnormal or prodigious animals were regarded as signs or omens of impending evil. Extended by late 14c. to imaginary animals composed of parts of creatures (centaur, griffin, etc.). Meaning "animal of vast size" is from 1520s; sense of "person of inhuman cruelty or wickedness" is from 1550s. As an adjective, "of extraordinary size," from 1837. In Old English, the monster Grendel was an aglæca, a word related to aglæc "calamity, terror, distress, oppression."

1. During the 1980s monster publishing houses started to swallow up smaller companies.

20世纪80年代，一些出版巨头开始吞并一些较小的公司。

来自柯林斯例句

2. She was a monster. For one thing, she really enjoyed cruelty.

她是个恶魔。一方面，她确实以残忍为乐。

来自柯林斯例句

3. The film will be a monster hit.

这部电影将会非常卖座。

来自柯林斯例句

4. Sarah jokingly called her "my monster"

萨拉戏称她为“我的怪兽”。

来自柯林斯例句

5. a monster with three heads

三头怪兽

来自《权威词典》