喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can picture standing in front of something far bigger than yourself — a rolling in, a mountain face, a silence in a room — and being stopped in your tracks, unable to say whether what you feel is fear or admiration. The word still shows its parts, awe + -ful, 'full of awe': it names sheer weight, more than it names good or bad. Once that weight got attached mostly to unpleasant things, awful came to mean 'terrible'; and once the weight alone was what speakers wanted, it turned into a way of saying 'very'.

可以想成一個人站在遠大於自己的東西面前——雷雨壓過來、一面高山、一場說不出話的場面——整個人被震住，說不清那是怕還是…更多收起可以想成一個人站在遠大於自己的東西面前——雷雨壓過來、一面高山、一場說不出話的場面——整個人被震住，說不清那是怕還是佩服。這個字的形狀還看得出來是 awe（敬畏）+ -ful（充滿），描述的比較像「份量重到滿出來」，本身不分好壞。後來這份量最常掛在壞事上，awful 就變成「糟透了」；再後來說話的人只想借那份量，它就退成一個表示「非常」的程度詞。

Three branches

大到讓人敬畏

最貼近字面 awe + -ful 的一支，今天已經很少用，多半出現在文學、宗教或帶古味的句子裡。

awe-inspiring · adjective · B1

So great or powerful that it fills you with deep respect or fear.

令人敬畏的

糟到讓人受不了

同樣的「份量重」，只是全部倒向不好的那一邊：不只是不好，是壞到會壓在你身上、讓你難受。

very bad · adjective · B1

Very bad, or so unpleasant that it upsets you.

很糟的／很爛的

純粹拿來加重語氣

好壞的判斷退場了，只留下「份量很重」這一層，於是變成加強語氣的工具，接在什麼後面就加重什麼。

very great (amount) · adjective · B1

Used before a noun to make it stronger, meaning very great in amount or degree.

非常（大量／程度）

原始詞典資料10 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。

awfuladj/ˈɔːfʊl/

  • 1

    Very bad.

    • The smell of my socks is awful.
    • We saw such an awful film last night that we left the theater before the end.
  • 2

    Exceedingly great; usually applied intensively.

    • I have learnt an awful amount today.
    • Shepard: You seem to know an awful lot about me. Geth: Extranet data sources. Insecure broadcasts. All organic data sent out is received. We watch you.
  • 3

    datedCausing fear or horror; appalling, terrible.

    • There was an air of gravity and importance about the garb of the person, and something indescribably odd, I might say awful, in the perfect, stonelike stillness of the figure, that effectually checked the testy comment which had at once risen to the lips of the irritated artist.
    • At our old pastimes in the hall ⁠We gambol’d, making vain pretence ⁠Of gladness, with an awful sense Of one mute Shadow watching all.
  • 4

    archaicAwe-inspiring; filling with profound reverence or respect; profoundly impressive.

    • As I am seen could I but gaze on Thee / Awful in majesty and royal might
    • God ought not to be commixed in our actions, but with awful reverence, and an attention full of honour and respect.
  • 5

    archaicStruck or filled with awe or reverence.

    • She spoke about Mr. Pendennis (a worthy little gentleman enough, but there are others as good as he) with an awful reverence, as if he had been the Pope of Rome on his throne, and she a cardinal kneeling at his feet, and giving him incense.
  • 6

    obsoleteTerror-stricken.

  • 7

    Prone to a particular temptation.

    • "It's her imagination, that's what it is," Millie said. "She's awful for imagining things, Wilfred agreed with me."
    • Tommy was just an awful man for the paper - couldn't get enough of the stuff! He'd have had the very Yellow Pages down him!

awfuladv/ˈɔːfʊl/

  • 1

    Awfully; dreadfully; terribly.

    • The race was run, and the dog ran "awful".
  • 2

    Very, extremely.

    • That's an awful big house.
    • She seemed awful nice when I met her yesterday.

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。