You can picture amok as the moment something breaks loose and nothing is holding it any more. It does not describe bad behaviour or a bad decision; it describes the absence of a brake. That is also why the word hardly ever appears alone — it needs run in front of it, because what it names is movement that nobody can stop.
From the word’s history
The packet's Wiktionary entry says the word was borrowed from Portuguese amouco, from Malay amuk, and entered English around the sixteenth century through European accounts of Malay and Javanese society, first in the 1516 Book of Duarte Barbosa. That history is why the violent sense is the older one and why the word is heavy when used about people.
packet 附的維基詞典寫：這個字借自葡萄牙文 amouco，源頭是馬來語 amuk，約在十六世紀經由歐洲人對馬來與爪哇社會的記述進入英文，最早見於 1516 年的《Duarte Barbosa 之書》。這段歷史說明了為什麼暴力那個意思是比較舊的一支，也說明了為什麼拿它講人時份量很重。
Wiktionary, "amok"
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，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。
amokadv詞源 1/əˈmɒk/
- 1
Out of control, especially when armed and dangerous.
- 2
In a frenzy of violence, or on a killing spree; berserk.
- It is true, I […] might have run “amok” against society; but I preferred that society should run “amok” against me, it being the desperate party.
amoknoun詞源 1/əˈmɒk/
- 1
One who runs amok; in Malay and Moro/Philippine culture, one who attempts to kill many others, especially expecting that they will be killed themselves.
- One morning, as we were sitting at breakfast, Mr. Carter's servant informed us that there was an "Amok" in the village--in other words, that a man was "running a muck."
- 2
The act of running amok.
- On the morning of the amok this person met him, and asked him to work at his boat “He replied that he could not, he was very much afflicted.”[…]The amok took place on the 8th, the trial on the 13th, and the execution on the 15th July,—all within eight days.
- Among the ancients these would have been looked upon as heroes or demigods who sacrificed themselves for their country. Here it is simply said--they made "amok."
amokverb詞源 1/əˈmɒk/
- 1
Synonym of run amok.
- The Rájá not listening to this language, again tried to kill Gumpar with a spear, and all his people assisted in thrusting and cutting at him; there was a great hubbub, and people outside of the fort were astonished to learn that there was amoking within it.
- After being there about ten minutes he revived, and soon entered into conversation with us; but he looked fiendish, as if something was preying upon his mind. This we found to be the case, as some gay Lothario had lately robbed him of his intended bride. Such causes in most instances lead to the Malay amoking (running a-muck).[…]I have never yet known a case of a Dyak amoking, yet it was of frequent occurrence among Malays in former times.
amoknoun詞源 2
- 1
A kind of Southeast Asian curry steamed in banana leaves native to Cambodia.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。