核心畫面

You can think of offending as the finger that points at the side doing the wrong. Someone is upset, or a rule has been broken, and this word marks the one who did it or the one thing behind it. It is the -ing form of offend, so the picture is still live: not punished, not apologised for yet, just the one causing it right now. That same pointing gesture works whether what got hit is a person's feelings, a law, or simply your afternoon.

offending 可以想成「正在犯事的那一方」。句子裡已經有人不舒服,或有事情出了錯,而 offending 負責更多收起offending 可以想成「正在犯事的那一方」。句子裡已經有人不舒服,或有事情出了錯,而 offending 負責把矛頭指向源頭:就是那句話、那台車、那顆牙。它是 offend 的現在分詞,畫面裡的動作還在進行——不是罰完了、道完歉了,而是「就是它在惹事」。所以不管撞到的是人的心情、法律,還是你的一天,這個指認的手勢都一樣。

Three branches

惹人不高興的那一方

這一家最貼近 offend 本來的意思:讓人生氣、覺得被冒犯。撞到的是人的感受。

adjective · B2

Describing the words, pictures or actions that have made people feel angry, hurt or insulted.

冒犯人的

違反規則的那一方

同樣的動作,只是這次撞到的不是人的心情,而是法律和規定。語氣也跟著變正式、變客觀。

adjective · B2

Breaking the law, or connected with breaking the law. It is used about the action itself, about people who commit crimes, and about the things involved, such as a car or a company.

犯法的;涉案的

指認闖禍的那一樣東西

把同一個指認的手勢從人移到東西上。語氣跟著變輕,常常帶點好笑。

adjective · B2

Used in front of a noun to point at the exact thing that is causing the trouble being talked about. It is often said in a light, joking way about something small.

惹麻煩的那個

原始詞典資料3 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。

offendingnoun/əˈfɛndɪŋ/

  • 1

    The act of committing an offence.

    • There are, besides, other corporations and individuals more or less connected in the activities of the other defendants, that are alleged to be instruments or accomplices in their activities and offendings[…]

offendingadj/əˈfɛndɪŋ/

  • 1

    Responsible; to be blamed.

    • Something in the fridge smelled terrible. The offending article was soon identified and removed.
    • According to Netsafe, scammers send out a bunch of emails, hoping to snag a few gullible people, but simply deleting the offending email won’t do anything to impede the con.

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形:

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