喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can picture convert as turning a thing around so that it faces a new direction — and once it faces that way, it counts as something else. The old garage is turned into a bedroom; dollars are turned into yen; a person who faced one set of beliefs now faces another. Nothing is destroyed and nothing is bought new: the same material, the same person, the same money, just pointed a different way and now working under a different name.

convert 可以想成把一樣東西「轉個方向」，轉過去之後，它就算是另一種東西了。舊車庫轉一下變成臥室、美金轉一下變…更多收起convert 可以想成把一樣東西「轉個方向」，轉過去之後，它就算是另一種東西了。舊車庫轉一下變成臥室、美金轉一下變成日圓、一個人本來面向這套信念，後來面向另一套。過程中沒有毀掉什麼，也沒有換一個新的：還是同樣的空間、同樣的人、同樣那筆錢，只是朝向變了，於是換了個名字繼續存在。

From the word’s history

From Latin convertere, from com- 'together, with' + vertere 'to turn' — literally 'to turn around'. It entered English around 1300 in the religious sense (turning from one faith to another), and the general 'change into another form' sense followed in the late 14th century.

來自拉丁文 convertere，由 com-（一起）加上 vertere（轉）組成，字面就是「轉過去」。約 1300 年進入英文時走的是宗教義：從一個信仰轉向另一個；到了十四世紀晚期才長出「變成另一種形式」的一般用法。所以「改信」和「換算、改造」不是兩個字，而是同一個「轉向」動作用在人身上跟用在東西上。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry 'convert'

From the picture

改信宗教

同樣是「轉過去」，只是轉的是一個人朝向的信仰。這其實是這個字進入英文時最早的用法，後來才擴大到東西上。

change religion · verb · B2

To start believing in and following a different religion.

改信

改變想法或生活方式

把「改信」的畫面搬離宗教：轉向的還是一整套想法或做法，只是這次可能是素食、某個政治立場，或某種訓練方法。

change beliefs · verb · B2

To start believing in or doing something different, such as a new set of ideas or a new way of living.

轉變（想法/生活方式）

轉變過去的那個人（名詞）

動作停下來之後留下的那個人：轉向已經完成，他現在就站在新的那一邊。

religious convert · noun · B2

A person who has changed to a new religion or a new set of beliefs.

改信者

Also in this word

change into another form · verb · B2

To change something into a different form, or to change it so that it can be used for a new purpose.

轉換；改造

become another form · verb · B2

To change into a different form, or to become something that can be used for a new purpose.

轉變；轉換

kick a conversion · verb · B2

In rugby or American football, to kick the ball successfully to score extra points after a try or touchdown.

（橄欖球／美式足球）踢加分球成功

原始詞典資料23 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。

convertverb/kənˈvɜːt/

  • 1

    To transform or change (something) into another form, substance, state, or product.

    • A kettle converts water into steam.
    • 1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth if the whole atmosphere were converted into water
  • 2

    To change (something) from one use, function, or purpose to another.

    • And the deff's further sayen that after the said b'gayn the said lambert compounded wt the said lychefeld ffor the moytie of the said Tymber stone glasse yren and tyle aforsaid by fforce whereof the said Lambert and Jane executrix of the testament of the said Thom's lychefeld haue broken and pulled down the stone walles & wyndoes of the said Churche dortr ffratr & cloyster & the same hath taken prceved & convertid to their p'per vses and behofe as lawfull was for the[m] to do by vertue of there said b'gayne & waraunt. All whiche mattrs the said def's ar redy to averre & p've as this hon'able cort shall award. And praye to be dysmyssed wt there resonable costs & charges for ther wrongfull vexac'on & trouble in this behalf.
    • He converted his garden into a tennis court.
  • 3

    To induce (someone) to adopt a particular religion, faith, ideology or belief (see also sense 12).

    • They converted her to Roman Catholicism on her deathbed.
    • No attempt was made to convert the Moslems.
  • 4

    To exchange for something of equal value.

    • We converted our pounds into euros.
  • 5

    To express (a quantity) in alternative units.

  • 6

    To express (a unit of measurement) in terms of another; to furnish a mathematical formula by which a quantity, expressed in the former unit, may be given in the latter.

    • How do you convert feet into metres?
  • 7

    lawTo appropriate wrongfully or unlawfully; to commit the common law tort of conversion.

    • The grand jury claims Terrigno "knowingly converted, for the benefit of herself and others, federal funds, which were intended to help the poor and homeless in the Los Angeles area."
  • 8

    ball-gamesfootballgamesTo score extra points after (a try) by completing a conversion.

    • Flood converted to leave Wales with a 23-9 deficit going into the final quarter.
另外 11 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    American-footballball-gamesfootballTo score extra points following a touchdown.

    • Bass also kicked field goals of 40 and 49 yards, but he also missed a point-after try, which led to a 2-point conversion that the Bills converted later in the game.
  • 10

    ball-gamesgameshobbiesTo score (especially a penalty kick).

    • Hinton, inevitably, converted the penalty.
    • However, the lead was doubled after the break, when Branislav Ivanovic converted from close range after Fernando Torres had flicked on.
  • 11

    To score a spare.

  • 12

    To undergo a conversion of religion, faith or belief (see also sense 3).

    • We've converted to Methodism.
    • The notion of blood purity was first elaborated in Europe, where it was used to separate Old Christians from Spain’s New Christians—women and men of Jewish and Muslim origin whose ancestors had converted to Christianity.
  • 13

    To become converted.

    • The chair converts into a bed.
  • 14

    obsoleteTo cause to turn; to turn.

    • O, which way shall I first convert myself?
  • 15

    human-scienceslogicmathematicsTo change (one proposition) into another, so that what was the subject of the first becomes the predicate of the second.

  • 16

    obsoleteTo turn into another language; to translate.

    • which story[…]Catullus more elegantly converted
  • 17

    ball-gamescricketgamesTo increase one's individual score, especially from 50 runs (a fifty) to 100 runs (a century), or from a century to a double or triple century.

    • Gillespie was reminded he had promised to join team-mate Matthew Hayden in a nude lap of the ground if he converted his century into a double.
  • 18

    businessmarketingTo perform the action that an online advertisement is intended to induce; to reach the point of conversion.

    • Each time a user clicks on one of your adverts, you will be charged the bid amount whether the user converts or not.
  • 19

    board-gameschessgamesTo transform a material or positional advantage into a win.

    • On the final day Marshall won a pawn as Black from another old rival, Hodges, but couldn't convert it and played on until a drawn king-and-pawn endgame.
    • In a serious game, the same event often takes place: the attacking side, out of pure inertia, tries to convert an advantage which he or she no longer has, thus giving the defending side winning chances.

convertnoun/ˈkɒn.vət/

  • 1

    A person who has converted to a religion.

    • They were all converts to Islam.
    • While still in this relationship, Greene, a convert to Roman Catholicism at 23, was asked to be godfather to Catherine Walston, a 30-year-old married woman, at her own conversion.
  • 2

    A person who is now in favour of something that they previously opposed or disliked.

    • I never really liked broccoli before, but now that I've tasted it the way you cook it, I'm a convert!
  • 3

    Anyone who has converted from being one thing to being another.

    • A great advantage of these temporary conversions of a man into a beast is that it enables the convert in his animal shape to pay out his enemy without being suspected.
  • 4

    ball-gamesfootballgamesThe equivalent of a conversion in rugby

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。