Picture a hand letting go on purpose: notes dropped into a collection box, a bag of coats handed over at the door, a name signed so that a school can have the books. Two things are always true — nobody paid you for it, and nobody is expected to give it back — and the thing goes to someone or something that needs it. That deliberate, one-way release can be held as the picture inside 'donate'. Because the giving is the point, the word carries a formal, public feeling: it belongs to charities, hospitals and campaigns rather than to passing a snack to a friend.
From the word’s history
Recorded from 1819 as a back-formation from 'donation', which goes back to Latin 'donare' = 'give as a gift', from 'donum' = 'gift'. Originally chiefly U.S. usage.
有趣的是，donate 這個動詞比 donation 這個名詞還晚出現：1819 年才從 donation 反推回來造出來的（一開始主要是美式用法）。再往前追是拉丁文 donare「當禮物送出去」，來自 donum「禮物」。所以這個字底層的感覺一直是「禮物」——白白給的，不是交易，也不是借。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry 'donate'
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，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。
Donatename
- 1
A surname from Spanish.
donateverb/də(ʊ)ˈneɪt/
- 1
To make a donation; to give away something of value to support or contribute towards a cause or for the benefit of another.
- She donates 100 dollars to Red Cross every year.
- He donated an etching from his own collection to the new art gallery.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。