行政上的省
這一家是核心畫面最乾淨的形式：純粹指行政區劃，沒有任何褒貶。
of a province · adjective · C2
Relating to a province, or coming from a province — a large area that some countries are divided into for government.
省的
核心畫面
Picture a country as a capital city plus everything else. Provincial means belonging to the everything-else: the provinces, the places out beyond the centre. The word is neutral on a map — but once you look at those places from the capital's point of view, a judgment starts creeping in.
一個國家被切成「首都」和「首都以外」。provincial 指的就是「以外」的那一塊——省、地方、外圍。這個畫面在地…更多收起
一個國家被切成「首都」和「首都以外」。provincial 指的就是「以外」的那一塊——省、地方、外圍。這個畫面在地圖上本來是中性的，只是位置的差別；但英文這個字的整條路，就是從「不在中心」慢慢滑向「離中心太遠、所以見識也窄」。理解這個字的關鍵，是看見這條從地理到評價的滑坡。From the word’s history
From Latin prōvinciālis, 'of a province' — a province being a territory the empire governed from Rome, always at a distance from the centre.
來自拉丁文 prōvinciālis（屬於行省的）。羅馬帝國的 province 是由羅馬遙控管理的外地，這個字從出生就內建了「相對於中心的外圍」這個位置感——不是自成一格的地方，而是「離中心多遠」的地方。
Wiktionary (provincial < Latin prōvinciālis 'of a province')
Three branches
首都以外的地方
從行政上的「省」放寬成一般的「非首都地區」——不再是法定的區劃，而是相對於中心的位置。
outside the capital · adjective · C2
Relating to or coming from the parts of a country that are not near the capital.
地方的
看不起的窄
從「離中心遠」滑到「見識窄」：地理上的邊緣被拿來當心態上的封閉。這一步是評價，不是事實——用這個字的人已經站在中心的位置在下判斷了。
narrow-minded, old-fashioned · adjective · C2
Old-fashioned and not interested in anything new or different. People say this when they do not like that way of thinking.
偏狹的
原始詞典資料11 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。
Provincialadj
- 1
obsoleteOf or pertaining to Provence; Provençal.
- With two Provincial roses on my razed shoes.
provincialadj/pɹəˈvɪn(t)ʃəl/
- 1
Of or pertaining to a province.
- a provincial government
- a provincial dialect
- 2
Constituting a province.
- 3
Exhibiting the ways or manners of a province; characteristic of the inhabitants of a province.
- […] fond of exhibiting provincial airs and graces.
- 4
Not cosmopolitan; limited in outlook; narrow; illiberal.
- 5
Not cosmopolitan; limited in outlook; narrow; illiberal.
- That awful little Cedar Whatever is no thriving megalopolis, and you people are so provincial, it's appalling.
- 6
Of or pertaining to an ecclesiastical province, or to the jurisdiction of an archbishop; not ecumenical.
- a provincial synod
provincialnoun/pɹəˈvɪn(t)ʃəl/
- 1
A person belonging to a province; one who is provincial.
- 2
CatholicismChristianityRoman-CatholicismA monastic superior, who, under the general of his order, has the direction of all the religious houses of the same fraternity in a given district, called a province of the order.
- The Franciscan provincial Diego de Landa set up a local Inquisition which unleashed a campaign of interrogation and torture on the Indio population.
- 3
obsoleteA constitution issued by the head of an ecclesiastical province.
- Or els is thys Goddis law, Decrees or decretals, Or holy sinodals, Or els provincyals, Thus within the wals Of holy church to deale […]?
- 4
A country bumpkin.
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。