核心畫面

One small sharp sound: pop. English takes the verb pop, adds -er, and the whole page grows from that. Some things on this page make the sound themselves when you press them or crack them open; others are machines that make something else burst. Either way, the name is a recording of a noise, not a description of a shape, which is why a jacket , a popcorn machine and a drug can all sit under one spelling.

可以想成一個聲音:啪。pop 是啪一聲爆開,加上 -er 就成了「跟這聲啪有關的那個東西」。這一頁的每個意思,都可以更多收起可以想成一個聲音:啪。pop 是啪一聲爆開,加上 -er 就成了「跟這聲啪有關的那個東西」。這一頁的每個意思,都可以想成從那一聲長出來。有的是自己發出啪聲,像壓扣壓下去、小玻璃管折開;有的是讓別的東西啪開,像爆米花機讓玉米粒爆開。名字記的是聲音,不是形狀。所以一個衣服上的扣子、一台機器、一種藥物,才會共用同一個拼法。

From the word’s history

The source records popper as pop + -er, the ordinary English way of naming the thing that does something. It does not gloss the sound itself, so the link between the noise and each meaning is offered here as a way of seeing the word, not as a documented history of each use.

資料只記到一句:popper 等於 pop 加 -er,也就是英文裡「做這件事的那個東西」的普通造字方式。至於每個意思是怎麼一路長出來的,資料沒有一一交代。所以這裡的連線是一種看法,不是考證。

packet Wiktionary etymology_text for popper (etymology 1): 'From Middle English poppere, equivalent to pop + -er'; kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4

Two branches

讓別的東西啪開的東西

這一組最靠近字面:pop 的動作發生在別的東西身上,popper 就是造成它的那一個。

noun · B2

A machine that heats corn seeds until they burst open into popcorn. More widely, a thing or a person that makes something pop, usually named with a word in front that says what is popped.

爆米花機

自己發出那一聲啪的東西

這一組換了個角度:啪的不是別人,是它自己。東西一壓、一折,就是那一聲,名字就停在聲音上。

noun · B2

A small round metal fastener on clothes, made of two parts that lock together when you press them and come apart when you pull. The neutral name for it is a snap fastener; popper is the informal British name for the same thing.

壓扣