枝頭上還沒打開的小包
核心畫面本身，也是其他用法借過去的那個原始形象。
noun · B1
A small closed lump on a plant that will later open into a flower or a leaf; while it is still a bud, the flower or leaf inside is rolled up tightly and cannot be seen.
花苞／芽
這個拼法底下其實是2個不同的字，意思沒有關係， 只是長得一樣。下面分開列出來。跳到 花苞／芽 · 兄弟／老兄
1
bud
noun, verb核心畫面
One picture holds this whole side of the word: a small closed lump on the side of something living, with more inside it than you can see. On a branch in February it is grey and hard and no bigger than a rice grain, and a whole flower is folded up in there. Two things follow from that picture. First, a bud is a stage, not a kind of thing: the name lasts only until it opens. Second, it is always growing out of something else, never standing alone — which is why a science class can use the same word for the lump on the side of a yeast cell. Turn the picture into an action and you get the verb: to put out those lumps.
這一邊的字義可以想成同一個畫面：某個活的東西側邊，冒出一個小小的、關著的包，裡面裝的東西比外表看起來多。二月的枝頭上…更多收起
這一邊的字義可以想成同一個畫面：某個活的東西側邊，冒出一個小小的、關著的包，裡面裝的東西比外表看起來多。二月的枝頭上，它灰灰硬硬的，不比一粒米大，但整朵花已經捲在裡面。這個畫面帶出兩件事。第一，bud 是一個階段，不是一種東西：名字只用到它打開為止。第二，它一定是從別的東西身上長出來的，不會單獨存在——所以生物課才能用同一個字，來講酵母菌側邊那顆小球。把這個畫面變成動作，就是動詞：長出那樣的小包。From the word’s history
The packet's Wiktionary entry traces this bud to Middle English budde ('bud, seed pod'), from Old English, and suggests a much older root meaning 'to swell'. If that root is right, the oldest idea in the word is simply something swelling out, which fits the closed, rounded lump the modern word still names.
封包裡的來源把這個 bud 追到中古英文 budde（花苞、種莢），再往上到古英文，並提到更早的字根可能有「鼓起來」的意思。如果這條線索沒錯，這個字最老的想法就只是「鼓出來的東西」——這正好對得上它今天指的那個圓圓的、關著的小包。
packet evidence: Wiktionary entry for bud (etymology 1), source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:568091951
From the picture
把那個畫面變成動作：長出小包
英文很常把名詞直接拿來當動詞，這裡就是一例：名詞是那個小包，動詞是「長出那個小包」。
verb · B1
If a plant or tree buds, it grows small closed lumps that will later open into flowers or leaves.
長出花苞／發芽
生物課裡的芽：長出來，然後掉下去自己活
科學把枝頭上的畫面整個借走，只改了結局：植物的花苞打開後留在原處，這裡的芽體長大後會脫落，變成一個新的個體。
verb · B2
If a simple living thing such as a yeast cell or a hydra buds, it makes a new one of its own kind by growing a small part on its side that later breaks away.
出芽生殖
Also in this word
noun · B2
In biology, a small round part that grows out of the side of a simple living thing, such as a yeast cell or a hydra, and then breaks away and lives on as a new one of the same kind.
芽體
A second word, same spelling
2
bud
noun核心畫面
This bud has nothing to do with plants, so it is worth holding a separate picture for it. Think of a word that has been cut short because it gets said so often: buddy, trimmed down to one quick syllable you can call across a car park. That shortness is the whole feel of it. It is warm, it is fast, and it does not need a name — you can use it on a friend of twenty years or on a man you have never met, and in both cases you are saying the same thing: we are on easy terms here.
這個 bud 跟植物完全沒有關係，所以值得單獨記一個畫面：一個因為講太多次而被砍短的字。buddy 削成一個音節，短…更多收起
這個 bud 跟植物完全沒有關係，所以值得單獨記一個畫面：一個因為講太多次而被砍短的字。buddy 削成一個音節，短到可以隔著停車場喊出去。那個「短」就是它全部的感覺——親切、順口，而且不需要知道名字。你可以拿它叫認識二十年的朋友，也可以拿它叫完全不認識的人，兩種場合傳達的是同一件事：我們之間不必客氣。From the word’s history
The packet's Wiktionary entry marks this bud as a back-formation from buddy, and files it under a separate etymology from the plant word. So the two buds only look alike; they do not share a history.
封包裡的 Wiktionary 把這個 bud 標為 buddy 的逆構詞（back-formation），而且放在跟植物那個 bud 不同的詞源底下。所以這兩個 bud 只是長得一樣，並沒有共同的來歷。
packet evidence: Wiktionary entry for bud (etymology 2, noun), source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:568174976 ("Back-formation from buddy.")