- 1傑出的；聲名顯赫的
When we call a person illustrious, we mean many people know their name and look up to them because of what they have done — a long, strong record, not one lucky day. You will hear it about scientists, writers, judges, soldiers, and old public families. It is a formal, slightly old-fashioned word: a news reader might say “her illustrious career”; friends almost never say “my illustrious mum”. Though actually, people sometimes use it with a little smile, as if they are putting someone on a statue — “our illustrious boss” can be real praise, or a tease. Today it is about reputation. It does not mean good-looking, and it does not mean “bright”, even though the old Latin idea was shining.
From the word’s history
From Latin illūstris 'bright, shining; distinguished' + -ous.
源自拉丁文 illūstris「明亮、顯赫」，加上 -ous。
組成From Latin illustris, “bright, shining”, and also “famous”. English added -ous, an ending that means “full of that quality”. Illustris comes from the Latin verb illustro, “to make bright” or “to make famous”. That verb is in- (“in”) + lustro (“to make bright”; also “to clean by a holy fire”). Scholars are not sure of the oldest root: it may be an old word for “shine”, or an old word for “wash”.
同家族的字
- illustratesame Latin verb illustro, to make something clear or to make it shine in the mind
- illustrationfrom that same illustrate / illustro family
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，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。
illustriousadj/ɪˈlʌs.tɹɪ.əs/
- 1
Admired, distinguished, respected, or well-known.
- A solid and substantial greatness of soul looks down, with a generous neglect, on the censures and applauses of the multitude, and places a man beyond the little noise and strife of tongues. Accordingly we find in ourselves a secret awe and veneration for the character of one who moves above us, in a regular and illustrious course of virtue, without any regard to our own good or ill opinions of him, to our reproaches or commendations.
- Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh. The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs!
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。