抽掉一個人的心氣
這一族最貼近字的組裝本身：被抽掉的東西直接就是那個人的信心與續航力。
make less confident · verb · B1
To make someone feel less confident, or less willing to keep trying to do something.
使氣餒；使灰心
核心畫面
Think of it as taking the courage out of someone. Inside discourage sits courage — the word is literally dis- (away) + courage. Picture a person who was leaning forward, ready to go, and something drains that forward energy out of them until they sit back down. Everything the word does is some version of that draining-away: the push to act gets smaller.
「把某人心裡那股勁抽掉」。這個字裡面就藏著 courage（勇氣、想去做的那股力氣），前面加上 dis-（拿掉、去除…更多收起
「把某人心裡那股勁抽掉」。這個字裡面就藏著 courage（勇氣、想去做的那股力氣），前面加上 dis-（拿掉、去除）。想像一個人本來身體往前傾、準備要動了，結果某件事把那股往前的力氣一點一點抽走，他就慢慢坐回去了。這個字的每一個用法，都是那個「往前的力氣被抽掉」的不同版本——有時候被抽掉的是信心，有時候是打算做某事的念頭，有時候甚至是一株植物往上長的勢頭。From the word’s history
From Old French descoragier, from des- ('away, opposite of') + corage ('courage'), from Latin cor ('heart'). The modern core is still visible in the parts: to take the heart out of someone.
來自古法語 descoragier，由 des-（去除、相反）加上 corage（勇氣）組成，而 corage 的源頭是拉丁文 cor「心」。所以這個字最早的意思接近「把某人的心（那股心氣）拿走」——現代用法裡還看得見這個組裝方式，字面就是「去掉勇氣」。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry for 'discourage'
Two branches
抽掉事情發生的勢頭
還是「抽掉往前的力氣」，只是這次沒有人在感覺什麼——被抽掉勢頭的是一件事、一種趨勢或一株植物，靠的是改動周圍的條件。
discourage (a trend/growth) · verb · B2
To make something less likely to happen, or to make it grow or spread less, usually by changing the conditions around it.
抑制；使不易發生
原始詞典資料3 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。
discourageverb/dɪsˈkʌɹɪd͡ʒ/
- 1
To extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits of; to deprive of confidence; to deject.
- Don't be discouraged by the amount of work left to do: you'll finish it in good time.
- Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
- 2
To persuade somebody not to do (something).
- Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can.
discouragenoun/dɪsˈkʌɹɪd͡ʒ/
- 1
rareLack of courage
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。