核心畫面

Picture a desk where every pen is in its holder, the papers sit in one straight stack, and nothing spare is lying around. Neat is that look: clean, in order, nothing extra. Once you hold that picture, the other uses follow — small and trim, clever with nothing wasted, and a drink with nothing added to it.

可以想成:一張桌子,筆都插在筆筒裡,紙疊成一落對齊,旁邊沒有多餘的東西。neat 就是這個樣子——乾淨、有秩序、沒有更多收起可以想成:一張桌子,筆都插在筆筒裡,紙疊成一落對齊,旁邊沒有多餘的東西。neat 就是這個樣子——乾淨、有秩序、沒有多的。抓住這個畫面之後,其他用法都跟著長出來:小而不亂、聰明而不囉唆、酒裡什麼都沒加。

From the word’s history

Neat came into English from Anglo-French neit / French net, from Latin nitidus 'well-favored, elegant, trim', literally 'gleaming', from nitere 'to shine'. The 'unadulterated' sense is recorded of wine from the 1570s and of spirits from about 1800 — so the tidy sense and the no-water sense both come from one idea of pure and unmixed.

neat 經由古法語 net 進入英文,來自拉丁文 nitidus(好看、乾淨俐落),字面意思是「發亮的」,源頭是 nitere(發光)。「不摻東西」的用法在 1570 年代先用於葡萄酒,約 1800 年用於烈酒。所以「整齊」和「不加水的酒」不是兩個不相干的字,而是同一個「純淨、沒有混雜」的概念往兩邊長。

Online Etymology Dictionary, entry 'neat' (etymonline.com/word/neat)

From the picture

小而俐落、簡單而聰明

把「沒有多餘的東西」這一點看成優點:體積上不多一分,就是小巧好看;做法上不多一步,就是漂亮的一手。這一支不再講收納,而是在讚美一種剛剛好。

neat (dainty) · adjective · B1

Small in a pleasing way; little and attractive to look at.

小巧精緻

口語稱讚:很棒

從「漂亮的一手」再往外走一步,就變成隨口的稱讚:看到什麼喜歡的東西都可以說 neat。到這裡它已經跟整齊沒關係了,只留下「好」的感覺。

neat (cool, informal) · adjective · B1

Very good, pleasant, or enjoyable — used especially in American English when you like something.

很棒/很酷

酒裡什麼都沒加

同一個「沒有多餘的東西」用在杯子裡:不加冰、不加水、不調任何東西,只有酒本身。字源上這一支和整齊同源,都來自「純淨、不混雜」的意思,所以它不是另一個字。

neat (undiluted drink) · adjective · B1

Used about a drink that has nothing added to it — no ice, no water, and no other liquid mixed in.

純的/不加冰

Also in this word

tidy · adjective · B1

Tidy and carefully arranged, so everything looks in the right place and nice to look at.

整齊/整潔

neat (person) · adjective · B1

Used about a person who likes to keep things tidy and in the right place.

愛整潔

原始詞典資料17 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。

Neatname

  • 1

    A surname from Middle English.

neatadj詞源 1/ˈniːt/

  • 1

    Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.

    • My room is neat because I tidied it this morning.  She has very neat hair.
    • Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. ¶ There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
  • 2

    Free from contaminants; unadulterated, undiluted. Particularly of liquor and cocktails; see usage below.

    • I like my whisky neat.
    • 1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 464-465, A cup of neate wine of Orleance, That never came neer the brewers of England.
  • 3

    chemistrynatural-sciencesphysical-sciencesConditions with a liquid reagent or gas performed with no standard solvent or cosolvent.

    • The Arbuzov reaction is performed by adding the bromide to the phosphite, neat.  The molecular beam was neat acetylene.
  • 4

    archaicWith all deductions or allowances made; net.

    • Why without telling the least title of Falshood, within the space of the last Week’s Play, the Gains of Count Cog, really amounted to no less than Twenty Thousand Pounds Sterling neat Money.
    • Dr. Swift […] says, in his short view of the state of Ireland, that the whole cash of that kingdom amounted to 500,000 l. that out of this they remitted every year a neat million to England, and had scarce any other source to compensate themselves from […]
  • 5

    Having a simple elegance or style; clean, trim, tidy, tasteful.

    • The front room was neat and carefully arranged for the guests.
  • 6

    Well-executed or delivered; clever, skillful, precise.

    • Having the two protagonists meet in the last act was a particularly neat touch.
  • 7

    Facile; missing complexity or details in the favor of convenience or simplicity.

    • Courts should not reduce this case to a neat set of legal rules.
  • 8

    Good, excellent, desirable; interesting; cool.

    • Hey, neat convertible, man.
    • "You can tell that Rory has had this type of talent in him for some time now, and to see him putting it together is pretty neat to see."

neatintj詞源 1/ˈniːt/

  • 1

    Used to signify a job well done.

  • 2

    Used to signify approval.

neatnoun詞源 1/ˈniːt/

  • 1

    informalAn artificial intelligence researcher who believes that solutions should be elegant, clear and provably correct. Compare scruffy.

neatnoun詞源 2/ˈniːt/

  • 1

    archaicA bull or cow.

    • Who both by his calfe, & his lambe wil be known, / may well kill a neate and a shepe of his owne. / And he that wil reare up a pyg in his house, / hath cheaper his bacon, and sweter his souse.
    • Thanks, i'faith; for silence is only commendable / In a neat's tongue dried.

neatnoun詞源 2/ˈniːt/

  • 1

    archaicCattle collectively.

    • From thence into the open fields he fled, / Whereas the Heardes were keeping of their neat / And shepheards singing to their flockes, that fed,
    • And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf / Are all call’d neat.

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。