A newt is a small animal with a long soft body, four short legs, and a tail. It lives partly in water and partly on land, like a frog, so it is an amphibian, not a lizard — though it looks a little like one, and its skin is not dry and scaly. You often find newts in ponds in spring.

A newt蠑螈 is是 a small animal一種小動物 with有著 a long soft body細長柔軟的身體, four short legs四隻短短的腳, and a tail和一條尾巴。It牠 lives partly in water and partly on land一部分住在水裡、一部分住在陸地上, like a frog就像青蛙一樣, so it is an amphibian所以牠是兩棲類, not a lizard不是蜥蜴——though it looks a little like one雖然牠看起來有點像蜥蜴, and its skin is not dry and scaly而且牠的皮膚不是乾乾粗粗的。In spring在春天 you often你常常會 in ponds在池塘裡 find newts看到蠑螈。

The name has a slightly silly history: English once had a word like ewt, from Old English efete, a lizard or newt. People said an ewt, and the n from an stuck to the animal, so it became a newt. The same kind of split gave us adder and apron. The older word eft is a doublet — the same animal under a shorter name, still heard in some local speech.

The name has這個字的來源有 a slightly silly history一點好笑: English once had英文曾經有 a word like ewt一個像 ewt 的字, from Old English efete來自古英文的 efete, a lizard or newt意思是蜥蜴或蠑螈。People said大家說 an ewt「an ewt」, and the n from an裡的 n stuck to the animal黏到了這隻動物身上, so it became於是它就變成了 a newta newt。The same kind of split同樣的分割方式 gave us也造就了 adder and apronadder 和 apron 這兩個字。The older word eft較舊的字 eft is是 a doublet一個同源詞——the same animal under a shorter name是同一種動物、用比較短的名字, still heard in some local speech在一些地方口音裡還聽得到。

You do not need that story to use the word. Just do not call a house lizard or a gecko a newt.

You do not need你不需要知道 that story這個故事, to use the word也能使用這個字。Just do not call只是不要把 a house lizard or a gecko家裡的蜥蜴或壁虎 a newt叫做 newt。