喜樂美語

核心畫面

One way to hold it: elderly is the gentle, respectful word for old when you are talking about a person. It does not add any new information beyond age — it changes the tone. Saying an elderly man instead of an old man is like lowering your voice a little: the age is still there, but you have handled it with care.

可以想成：elderly 就是講「老」的時候，那個放輕、放尊重的說法。它不比 old 多講任何事實，差別在態度——a…更多收起可以想成：elderly 就是講「老」的時候，那個放輕、放尊重的說法。它不比 old 多講任何事實，差別在態度——an elderly man 跟 an old man 指的是同一個人，但前者像是把話說得客氣一點，所以在報導、醫療、服務業這種場合特別常用。也因為這樣，它幾乎都放在名詞前面（an elderly woman），不太會說 She is elderly 來當面形容一個人。

原始詞典資料4 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。

elderlyadj/ˈɛldɚli/

  • 1

    old; having lived for relatively many years.

  • 2

    Of an object, being old-fashioned or frail due to aging.

    • The car was parked toward the rear of the shop, an elderly gray-blue Dodge. It looked better than it had in years.
    • The fleet had been ordered speculatively by Beacon Rail, and intended as heavy shunting and trip locomotives, as well as a viable low-emission replacement for the elderly Class 08/09 'BR Standard large shunter' which dates from the 1950s and 1960s.

elderlynoun/ˈɛldɚli/

  • 1

    Older people as a whole.

    • the elderly
    • health insurance and retirement income for the elderly
  • 2

    An elderly person.

    • He lives next door to an elderly.
    • He lives next door to some elderlies.

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。