喜樂美語

Hold out a hand and imagine one small hard lump sitting in the palm — round, blunt, too small to grip. That is the whole word. It can be a bump raised on a surface, or the last stub of something that used to be long. And when English wants to say that a long argument comes down to one small hard thing, it reaches for the same lump: strip the talk away and this is what stays in your hand.

可以想成手心裡躺著一小塊硬硬的東西——圓圓的、鈍鈍的，小到抓不住。這個字就是這一塊。它可以是表面上凸出來的小點，也可以是某個長東西用到最後剩下的一截。英文要說一長串討論最後只歸到一件關鍵的事時，用的也是同一塊：把話都剝掉，留在手上的就是這個。

From the word’s history

The packet says nub comes either straight from Middle Low German or from knub, a Middle Low German word for a knot or lump, and points at Low German Knubbel/Knobbel and at English knob. So the lump is not a metaphor added later; the word started as a name for a knot of matter, and knob is its bigger relative.

證據指出 nub 可能直接來自中低地德語，也可能由 knub 變來，那個字表示「結、塊」，並且和 knob 有親屬關係。所以「小硬塊」不是後來加上去的比喻。這個字一開始就是在叫一團打結、結塊的東西，而 knob 是它體型比較大的親戚。

Wiktionary, "nub" (etymology 1)

登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

容易混在一起的字在訂閱裡。容易混在一起的字需要訂閱帳號。

nubs

意思相反

wholeside issuedentdetailhollow

原始詞典資料12 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，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。

nubnoun詞源 1/nʌb/

  • 1

    obsoleteThe innermost section of a chrysalis in a silk cocoon.

  • 2

    A small knob or lump.

  • 3

    The essence or core of an issue, argument etc.

    • What do you think is the nub of the problem?
    • Very often, of course, the rambling and disjointed humorous story finishes with a nub, point, snapper, or whatever you like to call it.
  • 4

    vulgarslangThe clitoris.

    • “ — and then rub her nub with the bridge of your nose, right where the nerve will drive her straight to the ceiling!”
    • When he used his fingers to rub her nub, he didn't have to wait anymore. She exploded for the second time that morning,...
  • 5

    computingengineeringmathematicsA pointing stick.

  • 6

    entertainmentlifestyletheaterA passage of Shakespearean blank verse.

    • A nub is a passage of blank verse that Shakespearean actors have sometimes relied upon when they forget their lines. It doesn't have to make any sense, but it must sound plausible. To alert the other actors on stage that the speaker is in difficulty, the word nub is used in the first line.
    • To an audience a clever nub can pass for Shakespeare himself.
  • 7

    informalThe genital tubercle.

    • nub theory

nubverb詞源 1/nʌb/

  • 1

    ball-gamesbaseballgamesTo hit the ball weakly.

  • 2

    To push; to nudge.

  • 3

    To beckon.

  • 4

    To extemporize a passage of Shakespearean blank verse

    • In Shall we Shog?, Globe artistic director Mark Rylance hilariously found himself having to nub the Quarto version of Hamlet's speech to the players.

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。