喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can picture explain as making something flat and smooth so the other person can see the whole of it. The Latin root is literally 'to spread out flat' (ex- 'out' + planus 'flat'). A folded, tangled idea sits in your head; to explain is to open it up and lay it out in front of someone, so what was becomes easy for them to follow.

可以想成把一團原本摺起來、纏在一起的想法攤平、鋪開，讓對方一眼看清全貌。explain 的拉丁字根本來就是「往外攤平…更多收起可以想成把一團原本摺起來、纏在一起的想法攤平、鋪開，讓對方一眼看清全貌。explain 的拉丁字根本來就是「往外攤平」（ex- 向外 + planus 平的）。本來在你腦中皺成一團的東西，你把它攤開、講明白，對方就跟得上了。

From the word’s history

From Latin explanare, ex- 'out' + planus 'flat, plain' — literally 'to make flat / spread out', hence 'make plain to understand'.

源自拉丁文 explanare，ex-（向外）+ planus（平、平坦）——字面是「攤平、鋪開」，引申為「講到清楚明白」。planus 也正是英文 plain（平的、清楚的）的來源。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), 'explain'

From the picture

為自己講清楚

一樣是把東西攤平給人看，只是這次攤開的是「你自己」——你的動機或你的意思。固定用在 explain yourself 這個說法裡，把焦點從外在的事轉回你這個人身上。

explain yourself (justify your actions) · verb · A2

In 'explain yourself' (this sense) — to tell someone who is angry or upset the reasons why you did something.

為自己的行為辯解

Also in this word

make clear · verb · A2

To make something clear to another person so that they can understand it.

解釋 / 說明

give the reason · verb · A2

To give the reason for something, or to be the reason why something happens.

說明原因

原始詞典資料5 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。

explainverb/ɪkˈspleɪn/

  • 1

    To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.

    • The issue was explained to the governor in detail.
    • The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits. He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. Nobody would miss them, he explained.
  • 2

    To give the reason for, justification for, or cause of.

    • It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].
  • 3

    obsoleteTo make flat, smooth out.

  • 4

    obsoleteTo unfold or make visible.

    • April 14, 1684, John Evelyn, a letter sent to the Royal Society concerning the damage done to his gardens by the preceding winter The horse-chestnut is […] ready to explain its leaf.
  • 5

    To make something plain or intelligible.

    • She tried to explain but he wouldn’t listen.
    • It is easy to modify the account to take this into account, by explaining not just in terms of a set of reasons but in terms of a set of reason–weight pairs.

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。