喜樂美語

核心畫面

Picture someone painting or playing music on a weekend purely because they love it, with no paycheck in sight. An 'amateur' is that person — doing the thing for the love of it, not for money.

可以想成一個人週末畫畫、彈琴，純粹因為喜歡，完全沒想過收錢。amateur 的核心畫面比較像這種人：做一件事是出於熱…更多收起可以想成一個人週末畫畫、彈琴，純粹因為喜歡，完全沒想過收錢。amateur 的核心畫面比較像這種人：做一件事是出於熱愛，不是為了賺錢。

From the word’s history

From French 'amateur' (lover of), from Latin 'amator' (lover), from 'amare' (to love) — literally 'one who loves' the activity, which is exactly the core: doing it out of love, not for pay.

來自法文 amateur（愛好者），源於拉丁文 amator（愛人、喜愛者），字根是 amare（愛）。字面就是「愛這件事的人」，正好對上核心：因為愛而做，不是為錢。

etymonline.com/word/amateur; Merriam-Webster

Two branches

出於熱愛（不為錢）

這一家就是字源的原意：因為喜歡而做，而不是拿它當有薪水的工作。名詞指這樣的人，形容詞形容這樣的活動。

non-professional hobbyist · noun · C1

Someone who does an activity because they enjoy it, not to earn money.

業餘者 / 業餘愛好者

外行、不熟練

從核心延伸出來的負面用法：既然業餘的人沒受過專業訓練，人們就把 amateur 拿來指「做得笨拙、像沒學過」，重點從「動機」滑到了「品質」。

unskilled person · noun · C1

Someone who does something in a clumsy or unskilled way, as if they had no training.

外行 / 生手

原始詞典資料6 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。

amateurnoun/ˈæ.mə.tə/

  • 1

    archaicA lover of something.

    • he conducted extensive correspondence on wines with European suppliers, employing a wine vocabulary familiar to any modern amateur of wines.
  • 2

    A person attached to a particular pursuit, study, science, or art (such as music or painting), especially one who cultivates any study, interest, taste, or attachment without engaging in it professionally.

    • The contest is only open to amateurs.
    • You see, I'm not an official in any sense so I can't plead privilege and invoke the powers to back me. In the eyes of a jury I should be merely an interfering amateur—and there's such a thing as defamation.
  • 3

    Someone who is unqualified or insufficiently skillful.

    • The entire thing was built by some amateurs with screwdrivers and plywood.

amateuradj/ˈæ.mə.tə/

  • 1

    Non-professional.

  • 2

    Created, done, or populated by amateurs or non-professionals.

    • amateur sports
  • 3

    Showing a lack of professionalism, experience or talent.

    • Duct tape is a sure sign of amateur workmanship.
    • To put that into perspective, this celebrity wedding is officially way more secure than last year’s US operation to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen, in advance of which you might recall a journalist was added to the top-level group chat by the then national security adviser. So amateur. Taylor would never.

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。