核心畫面

You can think of brevity as the word 'short' turned into a noun. Something could have gone on longer, and it does not. English then measures that shortness two ways: how many words a thing takes, and how much time it lasts.

brevity 可以想成把「短」這個感覺變成一個名詞。有一件事本來可以拉得更長,結果沒有。英文再拿兩把尺去量這個「短更多收起brevity 可以想成把「短」這個感覺變成一個名詞。有一件事本來可以拉得更長,結果沒有。英文再拿兩把尺去量這個「短」:一把量字數,一把量時間。所以同一個字,既能說一封信寫得很精簡,也能說一次探訪短得讓人來不及好好聊天。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary records brevity as brief + -ity, from Latin brevis 'short' — so the noun is literally 'the shortness of a thing'.

這份資料記載 brevity 由 brief(短)加 -ity(…的性質)構成,更早來自拉丁文 brevis「短」。所以這個字從字面上就是「短的那個性質」,兩個意思都直接從這裡出來。

Wiktionary 'brevity' etymology supplied in the evidence packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:960901728:15706)

Two branches

用很少的字講完

把「短」這把尺放在字數上量。

noun · C1

The quality of saying or writing something in very few words.

簡潔

只持續一下子

同一把「短」的尺,這次量的是時間。

noun · C1

The quality of lasting only a short time.

短暫