核心畫面

Picture an official document that is deliberately left open for anyone to read — it announces, in public, that this invention belongs to this person and no one else may copy it for a set number of years. The document is the word: a right, put on show. That same idea of lying open also survives in a second, much rarer use, where something is so open to view that no one could miss it.

可以想成:一份攤開讓所有人都看得到的官方文件,上面公告:這個發明屬於這個人,一定年限內別人不可以照做。patent 更多收起可以想成:一份攤開讓所有人都看得到的官方文件,上面公告:這個發明屬於這個人,一定年限內別人不可以照做。patent 最常見的意思比較像這份文件、這個權利——把「這是我的」公開擺在檯面上。而「攤開來」這個畫面還留在另一個少見的用法裡:某件事明顯到攤在眼前,誰都看得出來。

From the word’s history

Patent is short for Anglo-French lettre patent, Medieval Latin litteræ patentes — literally 'open letter': an official grant written on an unfolded sheet with the seal hanging at the bottom, so anyone could read it, unlike a sealed private letter. The root is Latin patere 'to lie open'. From the 1580s it narrowed to the invention licence, while around 1500 the adjective 'open to view, plain' came straight off the same root.

patent 是 lettre patent(中世紀拉丁文 litteræ patentes)的簡稱,字面就是「攤開的信」:這種官方文書寫在不摺起來的羊皮紙上,大印吊在下方,任何人都能讀,跟封起來的私信相反。字根是拉丁文 patere「攤開、敞開」。1580 年代之後,它收窄成「發明的專利」;而大約 1500 年,形容詞「攤在眼前、明顯」的用法則是直接從同一個字根長出來的。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry "patent"

Two branches

公開登記的發明權利

這一組都圍著同一份文件轉:那份權利本身、拿到權利的東西、以及去把權利拿到手的動作。

invention right · noun · B1

a special official paper that gives you the right to make or sell a new invention, so other people may not copy it for a set time.

專利;專利權

攤在眼前、明顯到不用說

回到字根「攤開」的那一面:不是公告一份權利,而是事情本身敞在那裡,一眼就看得到。

obvious · adjective · C1

used before words like lie or nonsense to say something is very clear and easy to see.

顯然的;明顯的

原始詞典資料22 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。

patentnoun詞源 1/ˈpeɪtənt/

  • 1

    lawAn official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.

    • […] Squib proved clearly by his patent that the house and office did now belong to him.
    • Philip of Spain had offered a reward of 25,000 crowns, a patent of nobility, and immunity for all past crimes, to the assassinator of the Prince of Orange.
  • 2

    lawA grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods.

  • 3

    lawA declaration issued by a government agency that the inventor of a new invention has the sole privilege of making, selling, or using the claimed invention for a specified period.

    • The patent situation, too, played a part in this, as often a firm sought to produce something which would achieve a given result, and yet not infringe a patent held by another; or a railway engineer would think of a device of his own that would free him of obligation to some manufacturer.
    • The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.
  • 4

    historicallawA specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.

  • 5

    A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained.

  • 6

    A licence or (formal) permission to do something.

    • If you be ſo fond ouer her iniquity, giue her patent to offend, for if it touches not you, it comes neere no body.
  • 7

    A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular (hyperbolic) as if exclusively; a monopoly.

    • So will I growe, ſo liue, ſo die my Lord, / Ere I will yield my virgin Patent, vp / Vnto his Lordſhippe, whoſe vnwiſhed yoake / My ſoule conſents not to giue ſouerainty.
  • 8

    gamblinggamesThe combination of seven bets on three selections, offering a return even if only one bet comes in.

patentverb詞源 1/ˈpeɪtənt/

  • 1

    lawTo (successfully) register (a new invention) with a government agency to obtain the sole privilege of its manufacture, sale, and use for a specified period.

    • To his great credit, Manson refused to patent his invention, as he desired to remove any obstacle to its adoption by other companies.
    • The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.
  • 2

    historicallawTo obtain (over a piece of real property) a specific grant of ownership.

  • 3

    To be closely associated or identified with (something); to monopolize.

patentadj詞源 2/ˈpeɪtənt/

  • 1

    Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.

    • At the departure of Philip he had received instructions, both patent and secret, for his guidance as stadholder of Holland, Friesland, and Utrecht.
  • 2

    bakingcookingfoodConspicuous; open; unconcealed.

  • 3

    medicinesciencesConspicuous; open; unconcealed.

    • She has a patent ductus arteriosus that will require surgery to close.
  • 4

    biologymedicinenatural-sciencesConspicuous; open; unconcealed.

  • 5

    Explicit and obvious.

    • Those claims are patent nonsense.
    • Again we read at page 174: “Instead of the Universal Roman Catholic Church there existed after 1650 the National Catholic Churches of Spain, France, Austria, Poland, etc. more subject to the Royal supremacy than to the Papal, not, however, so completely as in England.” This is obviously an exaggeration. There never existed in the countries mentioned, least of all in Spain, any National Catholic Church. There would not have existed any such contradictorially-named organization even in England had it not been for the lechery of Henry VIII. Other similar misstatements might be noticed here and there. The author's intention, however, to be just is patent and his success in this respect is noteworthy.
  • 6

    archaicEspecially of a document conferring some privilege or right: open to public perusal or use.

    • letters patent
  • 7

    archaicAppointed or conferred by letters patent.

    • [H]e did at last think of an office which do belong to him in case the King do restore every man to his places that ever had been patent, which is to be one of the clerks of the signet, which will be a fine employment for one of his sons.
  • 8

    biologybotanynatural-sciencesOf a branch, leaf, etc.: outspread; also, spreading at right angles to the axis.

另外 2 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    lawProtected by a legal patent.

    • a patent right    patent medicines
    • Madder is eſteemed a very rich Commodity, and what will turn to good profit; ſo that in King Charles I's Time it was made a Patent Commodity.
  • 10

    To which someone has, or seems to have, a claim or an exclusive claim; also, inventive or particularly suited for.

    • ["]Ben, my fine fellow, put your hand into the cupboard, and bring out the patent digester." Mr. Benjamin Allen smiled his readiness, and produced from the closet at his elbow a black bottle half full of brandy.

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。