核心畫面

You can picture per diem as a measuring cup with only one mark on the side: ONE DAY. Whatever is being counted — work done, money paid, a charge on a bill — is poured out one at a time. Two days, two cups. Nothing is counted in hours and nothing is counted in months. Once you can see that cup, every use of the word is just a question of what is being poured into it: the hours you worked, the wage you earned, or the food money you are allowed to spend before the sun goes down.

「per diem」可以想成一個量杯,杯身上只刻著一條線,寫著「一天」。不管要算的是工作、薪水,還是帳單上的費用,都更多收起「per diem」可以想成一個量杯,杯身上只刻著一條線,寫著「一天」。不管要算的是工作、薪水,還是帳單上的費用,都用這個杯子一杯一杯量出來。做兩天,就是兩杯。不用小時算,也不用月算。看得到這個杯子,剩下的差別就只是「這次杯子裡裝的是什麼」——是你上工的日子、是那一天的工資,還是天黑以前可以花掉的伙食費。

From the word’s history

Latin per (for each) + diem (day), taken into English whole, so the words still say exactly what they do: for each day.

拉丁文 per(每一)+ diem(日),整組直接搬進英文。所以這兩個字到今天說的還是它們原本的意思:每一天。這也是為什麼它用起來永遠離不開「一天」這個單位。

Wiktionary entry for per diem, etymology_text supplied in packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1638993942:2758)

Two branches

按日計算

這一組就是量杯本身,還沒裝東西。它只說明「算法是一天一天來的」。

r · C1

For each day; on each day. It says how something is counted, paid or charged: one day at a time.

按日;每日

按日給出去的錢

把量杯拿去裝錢,這個詞就從「算法」變成「那筆錢」本身,可以加 a/the,也有複數。

noun · C1

An amount of money that an employer pays a worker for each day the worker works, instead of paying by the hour, the week or the month.

日薪;按日計酬