核心畫面

One way to hold this word: time has passed, but it left no marks you can count. Look at the thing and there is nothing to measure — no lines that say sixty, no style that says the nineteen-eighties, no date at all.

可以想成:時間確實走過了,但沒有在上面留下刻度。你看著那個東西,找不到可以量的地方。臉上沒有寫著六十歲。樣式上沒有寫更多收起可以想成:時間確實走過了,但沒有在上面留下刻度。你看著那個東西,找不到可以量的地方。臉上沒有寫著六十歲。樣式上沒有寫著八〇年代。整個看下來就是沒有日期。

From the word’s history

The form itself is age + -less, the same -less as in endless or useless: without age.

字形上就是 age 加上 -less,跟 endless、useless 裡的 -less 一樣,意思是「沒有」。所以字面上可以想成「沒有年紀」,而兩個意思就是「沒有年紀」的兩種讀法。

Wiktionary entry for ageless (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:928565039:15352); the packet's etymology tree traces the age element back through Latin aetatem.

Two branches

看不出年紀

這一支讀的是「沒有年紀」的外表層:年數確實累積了,只是看不出來。

adjective · B2

Looking the same as the years pass, so you cannot tell how old it is — used about a person whose face never seems to get older, and about a style or design that never starts to look out of date.

不顯老;不過時

久到量不出來

同樣是「沒有刻度」,但這一支量的是真實時間,不是外表:往後看不到起點,往前看不到盡頭。

adjective · C1

Having lasted for so long that no starting point can be put on it, and looking as if it will go on without end — used about mountains, old buildings, a feeling, or a kind of charm.

亙古不變的