喜樂美語

核心畫面

One way to picture it: a thing so thin and light that you handle it with two careful hands — one knock, one push, and it would give way.

某個東西薄薄的、輕輕的，你要用兩隻手小心捧著——它沒有厚度、沒有底氣，撞一下、推一下就會垮。重點不在它現在壞了沒有，…更多收起某個東西薄薄的、輕輕的，你要用兩隻手小心捧著——它沒有厚度、沒有底氣，撞一下、推一下就會垮。重點不在它現在壞了沒有，而在「它禁不起」：旁邊的人會不自覺放輕動作，因為大家都看得出來它承受不住。這個畫面同時罩得住老人家的身體、一艘小木船、和一個搖搖欲墜的經濟。

From the word’s history

From Latin fragilis "breakable" — the same root as fraction and fracture, and the exact twin of the word fragile. So the whole word grows out of the idea of a thing that breaks.

這個字來自拉丁文 fragilis「容易破的」，跟 fraction（分數／碎片）、fracture（斷裂）同源，而且跟 fragile 根本是同一個字走兩條路進到英文的雙生字。所以「容易破」不是它的延伸義，而是它整個人的出身。知道 frail 和 fragile 是雙胞胎很好用：兩個都指易碎，但 frail 更常拿來講人的身體，fragile 更常貼在包裹上。

The entry's origin note: Middle English frele/fraill ← Old French fraile ← Latin fragilis; cognate to fraction, fracture, doublet of fragile.

One branch

禁不起碰的脆弱

一個是這份易碎長在人身上，一個是長在東西和制度上；用的是同一個「一碰就垮」的畫面。

easily damaged · adjective · C2

Easy to damage or break, because it is not strong. Used of objects such as boats or plants, and of systems such as an economy.

脆弱

原始詞典資料12 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。

frailadj詞源 1/fɹeɪl/

  • 1

    Easily broken physically; not firm or durable; liable to fail and perish.

    • Returne with ſpeed, time paſſeth ſwift away, Our life is fraile, and we may dye to day.
    • Its nest is composed of the frailest materials, and is light and small in proportion to the size of the bird
  • 2

    Weak; infirm.

    • Frail smoke of morning in the air and a sort of muffled hum that is not sound but is not silence either.
    • O as the soft and frail lights break upon your eyelids
  • 3

    medicinesciencesIn an infirm state leading one to be easily subject to disease or other health problems, especially regarding the elderly.

  • 4

    Mentally fragile.

  • 5

    Liable to fall from virtue or be led into sin; not strong against temptation; weak in resolution; unchaste.

frailnoun詞源 1/fɹeɪl/

  • 1

    datedslangA girl.

    • She was the roughest, toughest frail, but Minnie had a heart as big as a whale.
    • There were five people in the Quirinal bar after dinner, a high-class Italian frail who sat on a stool making persistent conversation against the bartender's bored: “Si … Si … Si,” a light, snobbish Egyptian who was lonely but chary of the woman, and the two Americans.

frailverb詞源 1/fɹeɪl/

  • 1

    To play a stringed instrument, usually a banjo, by picking with the back of a fingernail.

frailnoun詞源 2/fɹeɪl/

  • 1

    A basket made of rushes, used chiefly to hold figs and raisins.

  • 2

    The quantity of fruit or other items contained in a frail.

  • 3

    A rush for weaving baskets.

frailnoun詞源 3/fɹeɪl/

  • 1

    Synonym of farasola (“old unit of weight”).

frailnoun詞源 4/fɹeɪl/

  • 1

    obsoletedialectalSynonym of flail.

    • The scythe, the sickle and the flail (or "frail", is it is invariably called) - these should surely be incorporated in the county arms, for on their use much of the prosperity of Essex has always rested until now.

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。