核心畫面

Coins dropped into a jar one at a time. No single coin matters, and on any given day nothing looks different — but you keep adding without taking away, and months later the jar is heavy. `accumulation` names both that slow adding-up and the pile it leaves behind. Two things are always true: it happens little by little, and nothing is being removed.

一個罐子,你每天丟一枚硬幣進去。單獨一枚不算什麼,某一天看也看不出差別,但你只加不拿,幾個月後罐子就沉甸甸的了。ac更多收起一個罐子,你每天丟一枚硬幣進去。單獨一枚不算什麼,某一天看也看不出差別,但你只加不拿,幾個月後罐子就沉甸甸的了。accumulation 同時指這個「慢慢加上去」的過程,和最後留下來的那一堆——中文有時要看句子才知道說的是哪一邊。這個畫面裡有兩件事一直成立:一是一點一點來,不是一次到位;二是只進不出,沒有東西被拿走,所以量才會往上堆。

From the word’s history

From Latin accumulare "to heap up", from ad- "to" + cumulus "a heap, a pile" — the same cumulus we still use for the piled-up cumulus cloud. The original picture is literally adding to a heap, which the modern word has never really left.

來自拉丁文 accumulare(堆起來),由 ad-(往…加)+ cumulus(堆)組成——cumulus 這個字今天還活著,就是氣象學裡那種一坨一坨堆高的「積雲」。所以這個字從頭到尾就是「往一堆上面再加」的畫面,兩千年沒走遠:不管加的是錢、知識還是灰塵,動作都是同一個。

Wiktionary etymology tree supplied with this entry (Latin ad- + cumulus → accumulare), cross-checked against the surviving meteorological term cumulus

Two branches

有意識地累積

罐子畫面裡「有人一枚一枚投進去」的那一面:加的動作是有人做的,加的東西通常是想要的。

gradual buildup · noun · C2

The slow gathering of more and more money, things, or knowledge over a period of time, or the amount that has been gathered that way.

累積

自然堆積

同一個罐子,但沒有人在投硬幣:東西自己一層層落下來,堆在原地不走。

a pile that built up · noun · C2

A large amount of something that has slowly increased and stayed in one place, or the process of it increasing there.

堆積

原始詞典資料7 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。

accumulationnoun/əˌkjuːm.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/

  • 1

    The act of amassing or gathering, as into a pile.

  • 2

    The process of growing into a heap or a large amount.

    • an accumulation of earth, of sand, of evils, of wealth, or of honors
    • At the lowest point, a short length of tunnel was driven alongside the up line, with a cross passage, to serve as a sump and pump house for dealing with any accumulation of water.
  • 3

    A mass of something piled up or collected.

    • After such an accumulation of mistakes in the treatment of lexical items, it comes as no surprise that the section on word formation on p. 133 is equally poor.
  • 4

    lawThe concurrence of several titles to the same proof.

  • 5

    accountingbusinessfinanceThe continuous growth of capital by retention of interest or savings.

  • 6

    businessfinanceThe action of investors buying an asset from other investors when the price of the asset is low.

  • 7

    historicaleducationThe practice of taking two higher degrees simultaneously, to reduce the length of study.

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