喜樂美語

核心畫面

One way to picture it: you walk toward the edge of something and never reach it — there is no far wall, no last item, no final moment. Not simply 'a lot', but 'the end never arrives'.

你一直往邊界走，卻永遠走不到——沒有盡頭的那道牆，沒有最後一項，也沒有最後一刻。它講的不是「很多」，而是「走不完」。…更多收起你一直往邊界走，卻永遠走不到——沒有盡頭的那道牆，沒有最後一項，也沒有最後一刻。它講的不是「很多」，而是「走不完」。抓住這個差別，兩個意思的關係就清楚了。

From the word’s history

From Latin īnfīnītus: in- 'not' + fīnis 'end, boundary'. The word is literally 'not-ended' — the same fīnis that gives finish and final.

拉丁文 īnfīnītus = in-（不）+ fīnis（結束、邊界）+ 形容詞字尾，字面就是「沒有被劃上句點的」。同一個 fīnis 也給了英文 finish 和 final——把 final 前面加個「不」，核心畫面就直接出來了。

Wiktionary: infinite < Middle English/Old French infinit < Latin īnfīnītus, from in- ('not') + fīnis ('end')

Two branches

真的沒有盡頭

這是核心畫面本身：在空間或時間上，字面意義的走不到頭。

without limits · adjective · C2

Without limits in space or time; never coming to an end.

無限的

多到像沒有盡頭

同一個畫面被拿來誇張：東西其實是有限的，但多到人感覺不到邊界，於是就借「走不完」來形容。

extremely great (amount) · adjective · C2

Very great in amount or degree — used about patience, care, or a huge number of things to choose from.

極大的

原始詞典資料10 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。

infiniteadj/ˈɪnfɪnɪt/

  • 1

    Indefinably large, countlessly great; immense.

    • The number is so infinite, that verily it would be an easier matter for me to reckon up those that have feared the same.
    • Whatever is finite, as finite, will admit of no comparative relation with infinity; for whatever is less than infinite is still infinitely distant from infinity; and lower than infinite distance the lowest or least cannot sink.
  • 2

    Boundless, endless, without end or limits; innumerable.

    • Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite.
  • 3

    Infinitely many.

    • Huxley's theory says that if you provide infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters, some monkey somewhere will eventually create a masterpiece – a play by Shakespeare, a Platonic dialogue, or an economic treatise by Adam Smith.
  • 4

    mathematicssciencesGreater than any positive quantity or magnitude; limitless.

  • 5

    mathematicssciencesset-theoryHaving infinitely many elements.

    • For any infinite set, there is a 1-1 correspondence between it and at least one of its proper subsets. For example, there is a 1-1 correspondence between the set of natural numbers and the set of squares of natural numbers, which is a proper subset of the set of natural numbers.
  • 6

    grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsNot limited by person or number.

  • 7

    entertainmentlifestylemusicCapable of endless repetition; said of certain forms of the canon, also called perpetual fugues, constructed so that their ends lead to their beginnings.

infinitenum/ˈɪnfɪnɪt/

  • 1

    Infinitely many.

infinitenoun/ˈɪnfɪnɪt/

  • 1

    Something that is infinite in nature.

    • Sooner Earth / Might go round Heaven, and the strait girth of Time / Inswathe the fulness of Eternity, / Than language grasp the infinite of Love.
    • Cautiously, Hobbes avoided asserting the equality of these infinites, and explicitly characterized the relation between them as non-inequality.
  • 2

    video-gamesA combo that can be used repeatedly without interruption.

    • […] prevents overpowered combos and infinites […]

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。