喜樂美語

核心畫面

Think of the short piece of steel between two railway carriages. Before it is closed, there are two separate things; after it is closed, there is one train, and whatever the engine does, the back carriage feels. That single picture holds the whole word, and it splits in exactly two directions. Look at the piece of metal and you get the part — the coupling you can check, tighten and replace. Look at what the piece of metal achieves and you get the state — two things now joined, so that one moving means the other moves too. Every later use is one of those two, carried somewhere else: to two dances on a concert programme, to two bodies, to two blocks of code, to two circuits on a board.

可以想成兩節火車車廂中間那一小段鋼。扣上之前，是兩個各自獨立的東西。扣上之後，是一列火車——車頭做什麼，最後一節都感…更多收起可以想成兩節火車車廂中間那一小段鋼。扣上之前，是兩個各自獨立的東西。扣上之後，是一列火車——車頭做什麼，最後一節都感覺得到。這一個畫面就撐起了整個字，而且它只往兩個方向長。看著那塊鋼本身，你得到的是「零件」：可以檢查、可以鎖緊、會鬆掉、要更換的那個接頭。看著那塊鋼造成的結果，你得到的是「狀態」：兩個東西現在連在一起了，所以一邊動，另一邊就跟著動。後面所有的用法，都是這兩者其中之一被搬到別的地方：搬到節目單上的兩首舞曲、搬到兩個身體、搬到兩塊程式碼、搬到板子上的兩個電路。看到這個字的時候，先問自己一句：這裡講的是那個接點，還是被接起來之後的狀態？

From the word’s history

From Middle English couplynge; couple + -ing. The -ing form of an action verb names either the action itself or the thing that performs it, which is exactly the two-way split the modern word still has.

來自中古英文 couplynge，構造就是 couple 加上 -ing。couple 本來的意思是「一對、把兩個湊成一對」。動詞加 -ing 變成名詞的時候，可以指那個動作，也可以指做那個動作的東西。這個字今天分成「接合這件事」和「接頭那個零件」兩支，正好就是這個構造直接的結果。

Wiktionary entry for coupling (etymology_text supplied in evidence packet: 'From Middle English couplynge; equivalent to couple + -ing', kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1062295485)

Four branches

接住兩邊的那個零件

核心畫面本身，也是這個字最實體的一支：那塊你看得見、摸得到、會鬆掉的鋼。其他各族都是從這裡走出去的。

noun · B2

The part that holds two things together so that they move as one — most often the metal link between two railway carriages, or between a vehicle and the trailer it is pulling, but also the fitting that joins two pipes, hoses or shafts.

連結器、接頭

接起來這件事（動作與搭配）

從零件轉向零件造成的結果：本來各自獨立的兩個東西，現在被當成一組。因為講的是動作，後面固定接 of，而且 of 後面會把兩樣東西並排講出來。

noun · B2

The act of joining two things into one pair, or the fact that they have been put together — used of physical things being hooked up, and just as often of ideas, pieces of music, names or policies placed side by side.

結合、搭配在一起

兩人交合（正式、冷調）

還是「兩個成為一對」，只是對象換成身體。這一支的特色不在意思，在溫度：它把那件事講出來就停住，不帶感情也不給細節，寫的人要的正是這份平板。

noun · C1

A formal word for an act of sex between two people, or for mating between two animals.

（正式）交合、性行為

兩個系統互相牽動

把車廂的畫面用到看不見的東西上，而且這裡兩邊甚至不必碰到。判準只有一個：這邊發生的事，那邊有沒有反應。有反應，就是 coupled。

noun · C1

In physics and electronics, coupling is a link through which two systems act on each other, so that energy, movement or a signal passes from one to the other — for example the connection that lets a signal cross from one circuit to the next.

（物理、電子）耦合

原始詞典資料8 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。

couplingnoun/ˈkʌplɪŋ/

  • 1

    The act of joining together to form a couple.

    • It is the first British yard in which every activity of hump marshalling, except for the driving of the hump locomotive and the uncoupling and coupling of wagons, is fully automatic or drastically simplified by modern aids.
  • 2

    A device that couples two things together.

  • 3

    computingengineeringmathematicsThe degree of reliance between two or more software modules.

    • The lack of coupling means that the elements of our system are better isolated from each other and from change. This isolation makes it easier to understand each element of the system.
  • 4

    businesselectrical-engineeringelectricityA connection between two electronic circuits such that a signal can pass between them.

  • 5

    natural-sciencesphysical-sciencesphysicsThe property of physical systems that they are interacting with each other

  • 6

    lifestylesexualityAn act of sexual intercourse.

    • The biggest film of March 1992 was “Basic Instinct,” an erotic thriller featuring an established movie star in explicit onscreen couplings with a sexy up-and-comer.
  • 7

    A link between the performance of an action and the location where that action occurs or the method used to perform that action.

    • It seems just as likely, though, that it simply never occurred to him to think about crime as something so tightly tied to place. Literary theorists and bridge engineers and police chiefs struggle with coupling.

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。