喜樂美語

核心畫面

Picture the moment the body jumps before the mind catches up: a loud bang behind you, and in that half-second your heart slams, your shoulders lift, your breath stops. Fright is that sharp, sudden hit of fear — not a worry you carry around, but a jolt that arrives all at once and then .

身體比腦子先反應的那一瞬間。背後突然一聲巨響，那半秒鐘裡心臟猛跳、肩膀一縮、呼吸卡住——等你想清楚「哦，只是書掉了」…更多收起身體比腦子先反應的那一瞬間。背後突然一聲巨響，那半秒鐘裡心臟猛跳、肩膀一縮、呼吸卡住——等你想清楚「哦，只是書掉了」，身體其實已經嚇完了。fright 就是這種又快又猛的恐懼，它跟 fear 不一樣：fear 可以是你放在心裡好幾個月的擔憂，fright 幾乎都是一下子撞上來、然後就退掉的那種。

From the word’s history

From Old English fyrhto 'fear, dread, a horrible sight', from Proto-Germanic *furhtī. The old word already covered both the feeling inside and the sight that causes it — a doubleness that modern English still keeps.

來自古英語 fyrhto，意思是「恐懼、驚駭，以及可怕的景象」，再往上是原始日耳曼語 *furhtī。值得注意的是：這個老字從一開始就同時指「心裡的害怕」和「引起害怕的那個東西」。現代英語仍然保留這個雙面性——你會說 give someone a fright（那個嚇人的東西），也會說 look a fright（那個不忍卒睹的樣子）。

Wiktionary / Online Etymology Dictionary (fright ← Old English fyrhtu, fyrhto ← Proto-Germanic *furhtī)

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。

frightnoun詞源 1/fɹaɪt/

  • 1

    A state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm.

    • With a bolt of fright he remembered that there was no bathroom in the Hobhouse Room. He leapt along the corridor in a panic, stopping by the long-case clock at the end where he flattened himself against the wall.
  • 2

    Someone strange, ugly or shocking, producing a feeling of alarm or aversion.

    • Her maids were old, and if she took a new one, You might be sure she was a perfect fright; She did this during even her husband's life I recommend as much to every wife.

frightverb詞源 1/fɹaɪt/

  • 1

    archaicTo frighten.

    • Are not you he […] That frights the maidens of the villagery […] ?
    • Little Miss Muffet, She sat on a tuffet, Eating of curds and whey; There came a little spider, Who sat down beside her, And frighted Miss Muffet away.

frightadj詞源 2/fɹaɪt/

  • 1

    rarefrightened; afraid; affright

    • Don't be fright, it is not so impossible as it seems.
    • Don't be fright, I'm not going to hurt you.

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。