不確定的可能
這一家最貼近核心畫面：直接拿「攤開手、不講死」來標記一件事「可能成立、但我沒把握」。從這個基本的不確定感，往外延伸到緩和意見、模糊數字、客氣提議。
possibly · r · A2
Possibly true, but you are not sure.
也許
核心畫面
You can picture perhaps as a hand held slightly open, palm up — 'maybe yes, maybe no, I'm not nailing it down.' The word is literally 'per' (by) + 'haps' (chance, luck), so it means 'as it may happen by chance.' That one gesture of leaving things uncertain spreads into all its uses: a guess, an opinion, a number, or a polite offer.
可以想成手心朝上、微微攤開的姿態——「也許是，也許不是，我不把話講死。」這個字本來就是 per（藉由）＋ haps（…更多收起
可以想成手心朝上、微微攤開的姿態——「也許是，也許不是，我不把話講死。」這個字本來就是 per（藉由）＋ haps（機運、運氣），意思是「看機運怎麼發生」。這個「把事情留在不確定」的小動作，會擴散到它所有的用法：替猜測、意見、數字、或客氣的提議都鋪上一層「不講死」的緩衝。From the word’s history
From 'per' (by, through) + Middle English 'hap' (chance, luck) — the same 'hap' as in 'happen' and 'perhaps' literally means 'by chance, as it may fall out.'
由 per（藉由）＋中古英語 hap（機運、運氣）組成——和 happen 裡的 hap 同源；perhaps 字面上就是「看機運、照事情怎麼發生」。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), 'perhaps'
Two branches
客氣緩語
同樣是「不把話說死」，但這裡的用意不是真的不確定，而是禮貌：故意攤開手、把語氣放軟，讓意見或提議聽起來不那麼強硬、留給對方空間。
softening an opinion · r · A2
Used to give your opinion in a careful way, without sounding too sure.
或許（緩和語氣）
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。
perhapsadv/pəˈhæps/
- 1
Possibly.
- Perhaps John will come over for dinner.
- There was a perhaps credible witness.
- 2
datedBy chance.
- […] will live until he dies perhaps, and then lie down in clover.
perhapsnoun/pəˈhæps/
- 1
An uncertainty.
- I cannot conceive what atheism, or skepticism, or positivism could do for me now, with their negations, and endless and contradictory perhapses, and perhapses, and perhapses.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。