核心畫面

A line running smoothly, then snapped off — no curve, no fade, just a break edge that leaves you unprepared.

一條線本來順順地往前延伸,突然被折斷——沒有轉彎、沒有漸弱,就是斷在那裡。abrupt 描述的永遠是那個「斷口」:東更多收起一條線本來順順地往前延伸,突然被折斷——沒有轉彎、沒有漸弱,就是斷在那裡。abrupt 描述的永遠是那個「斷口」:東西不是慢慢結束的,是被切斷的,所以接收的人來不及準備。你可以想像走在路上,路突然沒了;或是音樂放到一半,聲音突然停掉。那種「還沒完就沒了」的錯愕感,就是這個字要傳達的東西。

From the word’s history

Latin abruptus ‘broken off’, from ab ‘away’ + rumpō ‘to break’ — the same rupt root as interrupt, erupt, rupture, bankrupt.

拉丁文 abruptus 是「被折斷的」,由 ab(離開)+ rumpō(折斷、破裂)組成,字面就是「斷開來」。這條線索直接給了核心畫面:abrupt 的一切用法都回到那個斷面。認得 rupt 這個字根,一整串字就串起來了——interrupt(打斷)、erupt(爆發出來)、rupture(破裂)、bankrupt(字面是「板凳被折斷」,中世紀商人違約時交易台被砸的說法)。

Wiktionary, entry ‘abrupt’ (first attested 1583; from Latin abruptus, past participle of abrumpō = ab- + rumpō).

Two branches

事情斷得太快

這一族就是核心畫面本身:時間上的斷口——變化或結束來得沒有預告。

sudden · adjective · C2

A change, stop, or end that happens quickly, with little or no warning, so people are not ready for it.

突然的

人講話斷得太快

把時間上的斷口搬到說話方式上:話還沒鋪陳完就結束,聽的人感覺被切斷。

curt, blunt · adjective · C2

Speaking or acting in a quick, direct way that can seem rude or unfriendly, because you do not stop for warm conversation.

唐突的

原始詞典資料10 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,原文照列,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

abruptadj/əˈbɹʌpt/

  • 1

    obsoleterareBroken away (from restraint).

  • 2

    Without notice to prepare the mind for the event; sudden; hasty; unceremonious.

    • The party came to an abrupt end when the parents of our host arrived.
    • The cause of your abrupt departure.
  • 3

    Curt in manner.

    • With no great disparity between them in point of years, they were, in every other respect, as unlike and far removed from each other as two men could well be. The one was soft-spoken, delicately made, precise, and elegant; the other, a burly square-built man, negligently dressed, rough and abrupt in manner, stern, and, in his present mood, forbidding both in look and speech.
  • 4

    Having sudden transitions from one subject or state to another; unconnected; disjointed.

    • The abrupt style, which hath many breaches.
  • 5

    obsoleteBroken off.

  • 6

    Extremely steep or craggy as if broken up; precipitous.

    • The mazy-running brook Forms a deep pool; this bank abrupt and high.
    • To the north the towering scree-strewn slopes of Saddleback begin to draw nearer as we start the abrupt descent towards Keswick.
  • 7

    biologybotanynatural-sciencesSuddenly terminating, as if cut off; truncate.

    • Root oblong, blackish, nearly the thickness of the little finger, often growing obliquely; abrupt at the lower end, so as to appear as if bitten off, furnished with long whitish fibres.

abruptverb/əˈbɹʌpt/

  • 1

    archaicTo tear off or asunder.

    • Till death abrupts them.
  • 2

    To interrupt suddenly.

abruptnoun/əˈbɹʌpt/

  • 1

    Something which is abrupt; an abyss.

    • Over the vast abrupt.

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。