喜樂美語

核心畫面

Picture picking a thing up and walking off with it - it is light enough, small enough, and it still works when you put it down somewhere else. That second half matters: portable is not just easy to lift, it is 'goes with you and still works'. Once you hear the word that way, portable software and portable benefits stop being strange - the software runs on the next machine, the health cover follows you to the next job.

可以想成 portable 的畫面是：東西拿得起來、帶得走，而且放到別的地方還是能用。後面那半句才是重點——port…更多收起可以想成 portable 的畫面是：東西拿得起來、帶得走，而且放到別的地方還是能用。後面那半句才是重點——portable 不只是「搬得動」，是「跟著你走、到了新地方照樣有用」。用這個角度聽，portable software 和 portable benefits 就不奇怪了：程式換一台電腦還是跑得動，保險跟著你換到下一份工作。

From the word’s history

Portable came into English in the early 15th century from French portable, from Late Latin portabilis 'that can be carried', from Latin portare 'to carry'. The -able ending marks what can be done to a thing, so the word literally means 'carryable'.

portable 在十五世紀初從法文 portable 進入英文，源頭是晚期拉丁文 portabilis（可以被搬運的），來自拉丁文 portare（搬、運）。字尾 -able 表示「可以被怎麼樣」，所以整個字的字面意思就是「搬得動的」。看懂 port- 這個「搬運」的部件很划算，因為它同時解釋了 portable 四個看起來很散的用法——不管搬的是收音機、是程式，還是你的保險，動作都是同一個：把它從這裡帶到那裡。

Etymonline, 'portable' (etymonline.com/word/portable)

Two branches

拿得起、帶得走的東西

最直接的一組：搬的是實體物品。形容詞講東西的性質，名詞直接指那樣東西本身。

easy to carry · adjective · B1

Light or small enough to be carried or moved easily.

可攜式；手提的

換個地方也照樣能用

同樣是「搬過去」，只是搬的東西沒有重量：一段程式、一份福利。重點從「拿得動」移到「到了新環境還是有效」。

portable (software) · adjective · B2

Able to run on different computer systems without having to be rewritten.

可移植的

原始詞典資料9 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。

portableadj/ˈpɔː(ɹ)təbəl/

  • 1

    Able to be carried or easily moved.

  • 2

    Able to be transferred from one organization to another.

    • a portable pension plan
    • Even though Houston’s moment was already fading by the late 2000s, the city’s hip-hop culture proved to be endlessly portable and disseminatable.
  • 3

    computingengineeringmathematicsOf software: able to be run on multiple hardware or operating systems.

    • How do Java and C# create cross-platform, portable programs, and why can't C++ do the same?
  • 4

    computingengineeringmathematicsOf a program: able to be copied directly from one machine to another without the use of an installer.

    • Starting with release 1.7, a portable version allows all Host Attachment Kit commands to be run without installing the Host Attachment Kit.
  • 5

    obsoleteBearable, endurable.

    • How light and portable my paine ſeemes now, / When that which makes me bend, makes the King bow.
    • Christianity consists in a blessed exchange of yokes between Christ and a pious soul. He takes our uneasy yoke, and gives his easy yoke: the soul puts upon him that unsupportable yoke of transgressions, and takes from him the portable yoke of his commandments.

portablenoun/ˈpɔː(ɹ)təbəl/

  • 1

    A portable building used for temporary purposes

  • 2

    video-gamesA hand-held video gaming device.

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 Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。