喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can think of bearing as the -ing noun of bear, 'to carry or hold'. The picture underneath can be something being carried or held up: a person carries themselves in a certain way, a metal part holds a turning shaft, a walker carries a direction in their head, and one fact carries a link to another.

bearing 可以想成動詞 bear（承載、帶著走）留下來的名詞。腦中的畫面可以是「有東西正被撐著、被帶著走」。一…更多收起bearing 可以想成動詞 bear（承載、帶著走）留下來的名詞。腦中的畫面可以是「有東西正被撐著、被帶著走」。一個人把自己這樣帶著走，別人看見的就是他的舉止。一個零件把轉軸撐住，軸就轉得順。走路的人心裡帶著一個方向，那個方向也叫 bearing。一件事帶著另一件事，兩者就有了關聯。這條線不是歷史證據，只是一個好用的鏡頭：它讓 bearing 的幾種用法看起來像同一個字，而不是四個長得一樣的陌生字。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary records bearing as Middle English bering, formed from the verb bear plus -ing; the verb goes back to Old English beran, 'to bear, carry'. So the noun starts life as 'the carrying' and the modern uses are all things that carry, hold, or head somewhere.

依 Wiktionary 的記載，bearing 來自中古英語 bering，由動詞 bear 加上 -ing 構成；bear 這個動詞可以上溯到古英語，意思是「承載、帶著」。所以這個名詞一開始就是「承載這件事本身」。今天的幾種用法，不管是撐住的零件、心裡的方向，還是一個人的儀態，都還帶著那個「承載」的底。

Wiktionary (English) entry 'bearing', etymology 1 & 2, supplied in this packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:761335340 / :761349876)

Four branches

一個人怎麼把自己帶著走

這一家最貼近字面：bear 是「帶著」，這裡帶的就是自己。別人看你怎麼站、怎麼走、怎麼講話，讀到的就是 bearing。

noun · C1

The way someone moves, stands and behaves, especially when it shows other people what kind of person they are.

舉止／儀態

心裡帶著的方向

從「帶著自己」再走一步：你走路時心裡也帶著一組方向。把那組方向寫成角度就是羅盤上的 bearing，接不回來就是 lose your bearings。

noun · B2

A direction given as an angle on a compass, measured from north, used to say which way to travel or where something lies.

方位角

一件事帶著另一件事

把「帶著」用在兩件事之間：A 動的時候 B 會跟著動，就說 A has a bearing on B；兩者之間什麼都沒有，就是 no bearing。

noun · B2

Used to say whether one thing affects another thing or is connected to it. The word in front of 'bearing' says how much: no bearing means it changes nothing, a direct bearing means it clearly changes something.

影響／關聯

撐住重量的東西

回到最實在的 bear：真的撐著重量。這一家是看得見、摸得到的零件和結構，不必轉個彎去理解。

noun · B2

A part inside a machine that holds a turning part, such as a wheel or a shaft, and lets it turn smoothly against the part around it.

軸承

原始詞典資料12 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。

bearingadj詞源 1/ˈbɛə̯ɹɪŋ/

  • 1

    That bears (some specified thing).

    • a gift-bearing visitor
  • 2

    Of a beam, column, or other device, carrying weight or load.

    • That's a bearing wall.

bearingnoun詞源 2/ˈbɛə̯ɹɪŋ/

  • 1

    engineeringmechanicalmechanical-engineeringA mechanical device that supports another part or reduces friction.

    • The smaller 1/4" shank version features a bearing at the top edge to limit depth of cut, making it especially useful for curved glue joints.
  • 2

    nauticaltransportThe horizontal angle between the direction of an object and another object, or between it and that of true north; a heading or direction.

    • This volume would have been at least twice as large, if I had not made bold to strike out innumerable passages relating to the winds and tides, as well as to the variations and bearings in the several voyages, together with the minute descriptions of the management of the ship in storms, in the style of sailors; likewise the account of longitudes and latitudes; [...]
  • 3

    One's understanding of one's orientation or relative position, literally or figuratively.

    • Do we go left here or straight on? Hold on, let me just get my bearings.
    • I started a new job last week, and I still haven't quite found my bearings.
  • 4

    Relevance; a relationship or connection.

    • That has no bearing on this issue.
    • But of this frame, the bearings and the ties, / The strong connections, nice dependencies.
  • 5

    One's posture, demeanor, or manner.

    • She walks with a confident, self-assured bearing.
    • I know him by his bearing.
  • 6

    architectureThat part of any member of a building which rests upon its supports.

    • A lintel or beam may have four inches of bearing upon the wall.
  • 7

    architectureThe portion of a support on which anything rests.

  • 8

    architectureThe unsupported span.

    • The beam has twenty feet of bearing between its supports.
另外 1 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    governmentheraldryhobbiesAny single emblem or charge in an escutcheon or coat of arms.

    • Holonyms: shield, escutcheon
    • […]when the French seized Malta they were by no means so delicate. They effaced armorial bearings with their usual hot-headed eagerness; and a few years after they had torn down the coats of arms of the gentry, the heroes of Malta and Egypt were busy devising heraldry for themselves, and were wild to be barons and counts of the empire.

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。