挖土的機器
-or 指向「做這件事的東西」時，得到的就是工地上那台機器。
noun · B1
A large machine that digs earth and soil and moves it away. It has a long arm that scoops the earth up, and it often runs on metal tracks instead of wheels.
挖土機；怪手
核心畫面
Picture whatever it is that takes the earth out of the ground and leaves a hole behind. The word does not say whether that thing is alive; it only says what it does. English builds words like this with -or, an ending that covers both a person who does the job and a machine that does it, the way actor is a person and elevator is a machine. So excavator points at the digging, and the sentence around it tells you whether a yellow machine or a person with a brush is doing it.
可以想成：那個把土從地裡弄出來、留下一個洞的東西。這個字並沒有說它是不是活的，只說了它在做什麼。英文用 -or 造字…更多收起
可以想成：那個把土從地裡弄出來、留下一個洞的東西。這個字並沒有說它是不是活的，只說了它在做什麼。英文用 -or 造字時，這個字尾同時能指「做這件事的人」和「做這件事的機器」——actor 是人，elevator 是機器。所以 excavator 指的是「挖」這件事本身，至於挖的是一台黃色的怪手，還是一個拿著刷子的人，要靠句子裡其他的字來判斷。From the word’s history
From excavate plus -or. The stem names the action of digging something out, and the ending names whoever or whatever performs it.
來自 excavate（挖開）加 -or。字根講的是「把東西挖出來」這個動作，字尾講的是「執行這個動作的那一位或那一台」——所以同一個字自然涵蓋人和機器。
Wiktionary entry supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1354355205:35886)
Two branches
挖土的人
同一個 -or 指向「做這件事的人」時，得到的就是拿著刷子在遺址上工作的那一位。動作一樣，目的不同。
noun · B2
Someone who digs in the ground to find things that have been buried there for a long time, such as old tools, bones, or the walls of an old city.
發掘者；挖掘古物的人