核心畫面
You can picture someone standing over another person with the power to strike — and then choosing to lower the hand. Mercy is that held-back blow: you could punish or hurt, but you decide not to.
可以想成一個人手裡握著能懲罰你的權力，本來一巴掌可以打下去，卻選擇把手放下。mercy 就是那記『收回去的手』——明…更多收起
可以想成一個人手裡握著能懲罰你的權力，本來一巴掌可以打下去，卻選擇把手放下。mercy 就是那記『收回去的手』——明明有資格罰你、傷你，卻決定不那麼做。From the word’s history
Mercy came through Old French 'merci' from Latin 'merces', which first meant 'wages, reward, price paid'. In Church Latin it was narrowed to the heavenly reward earned by those kind to people who can give nothing back — and from there it slid to naming that kindness itself: compassion toward someone at your mercy.
mercy 經古法語 merci 來自拉丁文 merces，原意是『報酬、工錢、代價』。到了教會拉丁文，它被縮小指『善待那些無力回報你的人所換得的天上賞報』；再往後，字義就從那份『賞報』滑到那份『善意』本身——也就是對落在你手心裡的人心生慈悲。
etymonline.com/word/mercy; etymonline.com/word/merciful
原始詞典資料11 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。
Mercyname詞源 1
- 1
A female given name from English.
- Mr Pecksniff was a moral man — a grave man, a man of noble sentiments and speech — and he had had her christened Mercy. Mercy! oh, what a charming name for such a pure–souled Being as the youngest Miss Pecksniff! Her sister’s name was Charity. There was a good thing! Mercy and Charity!
Mercyname詞源 2
- 1
A surname from French.
mercynoun/ˈmɜːsi/
- 1
Relenting; forbearance to cause or allow harm to another.
- She took mercy on him and quit embarrassing him.
- 2
Forgiveness or compassion, especially toward those less fortunate.
- Have mercy on the poor and assist them if you can.
- He despaired of God's mercy in the same fact, where this presumed of it; he by a decollation of all hope annihilated his mercy, this by an immoderancy thereof destroyed his justice
- 3
A tendency toward forgiveness, pity, or compassion.
- Mercy is one of his many virtues.
- 4
Instances of forbearance or forgiveness.
- 1982, Bible (NKJV), Psalm 40:11a Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord
- 5
A blessing; something to be thankful for.
- It was a mercy that we were not inside when the roof collapsed
- 6
A children's game in which two players stand opposite with hands grasped and twist each other's arms until one gives in.
mercyverb/ˈmɜːsi/
- 1
To feel mercy
- I despised her; but I mercied her, too, and gave her sweet berries to eat, and led her to my lodge, and said to my best wife, ' Get up from my best skin, for the white squaw is a guest, and is weary.'
- At another time, forgetting "his verse," he attempted part of the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, by repeating, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be mercied!"
- 2
To show mercy; to pardon or treat leniently because of mercy
- In the middle of the room is a young Infanta intended for Marguerite Theresa, born in 1651, daughter of Philip the fourth, whose portrait Velasquez took in 1658, to send to Leopold, who had just been elected Emperor of Germanyd and who mercied her in 1666.
- Remember that kid that kept yelling that his father was mercied?” “Mercied?” - “The kid that kept saying his father was killed?
mercyintj/ˈmɜːsi/
- 1
Expressing surprise or alarm.
- Mercy! Look at the state of you!
- 'Three o'clock if possible,' he replied brazenly. 'Six o'clock in any case.' Clifton gave a little shriek of young-ladylike dismay. 'Mercy! Today?' she exclaimed. 'Why, you dear creature, do you know—' 'I know what you can do when you like,' he got in.
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。