核心畫面

One way to hold this word: a stream runs past a rock, and just behind the rock the water cannot go straight. It curls back and turns in a small circle at the edge of the flow. That little turning patch is the whole word — as a noun it is the patch, as a verb it is what the water is doing.

eddy 可以想成這個畫面:溪水流過一塊大石頭,石頭後面的水沒辦法直直往前,於是捲回來,在主流旁邊繞起小圈。那一小團更多收起eddy 可以想成這個畫面:溪水流過一塊大石頭,石頭後面的水沒辦法直直往前,於是捲回來,在主流旁邊繞起小圈。那一小團打轉的東西就是這個字的全部。當名詞時,它是那一團;當動詞時,它是那一團正在做的事。水、風、煙、灰塵都可以這樣繞,差別只在材料,不在畫面。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary traces eddy to Old English edea, from ed- (turning, back, reverse) plus ea (water) — literally water that turns back. That is the same picture the modern word carries.

根據 Wiktionary,eddy 來自古英文 edēa,是 ed-(回轉、往回)加上 ēa(水),字面就是「往回走的水」。今天這個字用的還是同一個畫面。

Wiktionary (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:615949688): From Middle English eddy, from Old English edēa, from ed- ("turning, back, reverse") + ēa ("water").

One branch

打轉的那一團(名詞)/正在打轉(動詞)

兩個詞性共用同一個畫面,只是站的角度不同:名詞看的是那一團東西,動詞看的是它的動作。

noun · C1

A small turning patch of water, air, smoke, or dust. It spins round in one spot, or runs back the other way, while the main flow keeps going past it.

渦流