下午的問候
從「下午這段時間」延伸到「在這段時間裡見面打招呼的話」。Good afternoon 縮成一聲 Afternoon，等於把時段直接拿來當問候語——你說的其實是「（祝你）午安」。
afternoon greeting · interjection · A1
A friendly way to say hello to someone in the afternoon.
午安
核心畫面
You can picture afternoon straight from its parts: after + noon — the stretch of day that comes once has passed, lasting until evening starts. Everything else the word does (every afternoon, or greeting someone in it) sits on top of that one block of time.
可以直接從字的組成看 afternoon：after（之後）＋ noon（中午）——也就是過了正午之後、傍晚之前的那…更多收起
可以直接從字的組成看 afternoon：after（之後）＋ noon（中午）——也就是過了正午之後、傍晚之前的那段時間。這個字其他的用法（每天的這段時間、或在這段時間裡跟人打招呼）都是疊在這塊時段上面的。From the word’s history
after + noon: the part of the day coming after midday.
由 after（之後）加 noon（中午）組成，指中午之後的那段時間，字面就是核心意思本身。
transparent English compound (after + noon)
From the picture
Also in this word
midday to evening · noun · A1
The part of the day between midday and evening.
下午
every afternoon · noun · A1
During the afternoon of every day, again and again.
每天下午
原始詞典資料5 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。
afternoonnoun/ˌɑːf.təˈnuːn/
- 1
The part of the day from noon or lunchtime until sunset, evening, or suppertime or 6pm.
- Theſe men ſerue God in the forenoone, and the diuell in the after noone;
- The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.
- 2
The later part of anything, often with implications of decline.
- Buck.[…]Theſe both put by a poore petitioner A care-crazd mother of a many children, A beauty-waining and diſtreſſed widow, Euen in the afternoone of her beſt daies Made priſe and purchaſe of his luſtfull eye, Seduc t the pitch and height of al his thoughts, To baſe declenſion and loathd bigamie, By her in his vnlawfull bed he got.
- 3
informalA party or social event held in the afternoon.
afternoonadv/ˌɑːf.təˈnuːn/
- 1
archaicIn the afternoon.
- I stayd at home till noone, and recᵈ of Crowders for 3 loods of shilling 2l. 8s.; and afternoone I went with my wife to Wakefeild, where by yᵉ way I spent at Toppitt 8d., and wee lay at Jackson’s all night.
- Afterwards […] they adjourned the court till two in the afternoon, and so went to prayers. Afternoon they called over the names of the rest of the college, demys, chaplains, &c.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。