核心畫面

Picture a person in a crowd putting a hand up and calling out a number, with other hands ready to go up straight after. The word holds the moment of naming a price against other people, not the moment of walking away with the prize.

bidder 可以想成一個在人群裡舉手喊價的人。他旁邊還有別人,隨時準備接著喊。這個字抓住的是「開價」那一刻,不是「更多收起bidder 可以想成一個在人群裡舉手喊價的人。他旁邊還有別人,隨時準備接著喊。這個字抓住的是「開價」那一刻,不是「東西到手」那一刻。所以不論是拍賣場上搶一幅畫,還是廠商搶一份合約,畫面其實一樣:好幾個人各自把價錢丟出來,等著被挑。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary gives bidder as Middle English bidder, biddere, equivalent to bid + -er: simply 'the one who bids'. The same entry still lists rare senses like 'one who commands' and 'one who begs', which come from older meanings of bid.

根據本批評估所附的 Wiktionary 資料,bidder 來自中古英語 bidder/biddere,就是 bid 加上 -er:「出價的那個人」。同一筆資料還留著「發號施令的人」「乞討的人」這種很罕見的解釋,那來自 bid 早年「命令、請求」的意思。今天日常會用到的,幾乎只剩「出價」這一條。

Wiktionary entry 'bidder' (noun), etymology_text supplied in this packet: 'From Middle English bidder, biddere, equivalent to bid + -er.' (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1292453802)

One branch

喊出價錢的人

兩個意思共用同一個畫面:有人開價,而且不只一個人在開。差別只在於,開價是為了「把東西帶走」,還是為了「把工作接下來」。

noun · B2

Someone who offers to pay a particular amount of money for something that is being sold, especially at an auction where several people offer prices against each other.

出價者