聲音的彎
最容易聽見的那種彎：一句話裡，聲音的高低一路在上上下下。
noun · C1
The way your voice rises and falls while you are speaking. It can show that you are asking a question, show what you feel, or point to the word in the sentence that matters most.
語調的起伏
核心畫面
One picture holds this word together: something bending. Not breaking, not stopping — bending, and staying itself while it does. A voice bends up at the end of a question. A word bends into a new shape to show that it happened yesterday. A line on a graph bends one way, then swaps and bends the other. In each case the thing that bends is still the same thing; only its shape has moved.
這個字可以想成一個字：彎。不是斷掉，也不是停住，而是彎——而且彎的時候，東西還是原來那個東西。聲音在句尾往上彎，於是…更多收起
這個字可以想成一個字：彎。不是斷掉，也不是停住，而是彎——而且彎的時候，東西還是原來那個東西。聲音在句尾往上彎，於是聽起來像在問問題。一個詞彎成另一個形狀，於是知道那是昨天發生的事。圖上的線先往一邊彎，中途換邊，再往另一邊彎。三種情況裡，彎的那個東西都沒有換掉，只是形狀動了。From the word’s history
The word comes from Latin inflexiōnem, which the source glosses as 'alteration' but says means, literally, 'bending'. So the bending picture is not a teacher's invention: it is what the word says. The older English spelling was inflexion, and the ct spelling we use now came in under the influence of inflect and words like correction.
這個字來自拉丁文 inflexiōnem，字面意思就是「彎曲」。所以「彎」這張圖不是為了好記才編出來的，它本來就是這個字在說的事。英文早期拼成 inflexion，現在的 ct 拼法是受到 inflect 和 correction 這類字影響才變過來的，兩種拼法到今天都還看得到。
Wiktionary 'inflection', supplied in this evidence packet, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:191720143 — 'borrowed from Latin inflexiōnem ("alteration", literally "bending")'.
Three branches
詞形的彎
彎的東西換成詞：walk 彎成 walked，還是同一個字，只是形狀變了來表示別的訊息。
noun · C1
The way words change their shape to show a difference in meaning or use — for example to show past time, more than one thing, or who is doing the action. It is a technical term in grammar and language study.
屈折變化；詞形變化（這個現象）
線條的彎
最接近字源的一種彎：這裡沒有比喻，真的就是一條線在彎，而且中途換了彎的方向。
noun · C1
In mathematics, the place on a curve where the bending changes direction: the line stops curving one way and starts curving the other. It is usually called a point of inflection.
反曲；曲線轉向的那一點