喜樂美語

核心畫面

Start with the colour you get when red and blue meet — grapes, , a , a sky ten minutes after sunset. Two things about that colour do most of the work in this word. It is what a face turns when the blood rushes up, so purple ends up describing rage rather than skin tone. And it was once the most expensive dye in the world, worn by emperors, so a strip of purple cloth came to mean the , costly bit stitched onto something plain — which is where the writing and sport come from.

先從紅色和藍色相遇的那個顏色開始——葡萄、茄子、瘀青、日落十分鐘後的天空。這個顏色有兩件事撐起了整個字。一是血往臉上…更多收起先從紅色和藍色相遇的那個顏色開始——葡萄、茄子、瘀青、日落十分鐘後的天空。這個顏色有兩件事撐起了整個字。一是血往臉上衝的時候，臉會變成那個顏色，所以 purple 用來講的其實是怒氣，不是膚色。二是這種染料曾經是全世界最貴的，只有皇帝穿得起，於是「一塊紫布」就變成「縫在樸素衣服上那塊華麗又昂貴的部分」——寫作和運動裡的那兩個成語，就是從這塊布長出來的。

From the word’s history

Roman purple came from a rare, costly shellfish dye (Tyrian purple) and marked imperial luxury. In Ars Poetica (c.20 BCE) Horace warned poets against sewing a 'purpureus pannus' — a purple patch — onto a plain work: a showy passage that breaks the whole. English took the image over (Elizabeth I's 1598 translation is the first recorded use), giving 'purple prose' for over-ornate writing and, later, 'purple patch' for a brilliant stretch — in modern British sport, a run of great form.

羅馬時代的紫色染料取自稀有的貝類（Tyrian purple），貴到只有皇室穿得起，因此紫色等於奢華與權力。詩人 Horace 在《詩藝》（約公元前 20 年）裡告誡寫作的人，不要在樸素的作品上縫一塊「purpureus pannus」——一塊紫布——指的是那種本身很漂亮、放進去卻破壞整體的華麗段落。英文把這個畫面整個接收過來（目前查到最早是伊麗莎白一世 1598 年的翻譯），於是有了 purple prose（辭藻過度華麗的文字），後來 purple patch 又從「精彩的一段」轉成現代英式運動裡的「狀態火燙的一段時期」。

phrases.org.uk, 'Purple patch'; Wikipedia, 'Purple prose' (Horace, Ars Poetica, purpureus pannus)

From the picture

臉上的那個顏色：怒氣

顏色從東西移到人臉上：生氣時血往臉上衝，紅過頭就成了紫，於是這個顏色詞被拿來講情緒。

purple with anger · adjective · A2

Having a face that has gone dark red because you are very angry.

氣得漲紅（臉）

縫上去的那塊紫布：華麗的一段

這兩個用法都回到「一塊昂貴的紫布縫在樸素衣服上」這個古老畫面：一塊特別顯眼、特別亮的部分。放在文字上是嫌它華麗過頭，放在運動上則變成稱讚——那一段就是特別耀眼。兩個都只活在固定片語裡，不能自由拆開用。

purple prose · adjective · A2

Used in the phrase 'purple prose', meaning writing that is too fancy, with difficult or unusual words.

辭藻浮誇的

Also in this word

purple (color) · adjective · A2

Having the colour made by mixing red and blue.

紫色的

the color purple · noun · A2

A dark colour made by mixing red and blue.

紫色

原始詞典資料23 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。

Purplename

  • 1

    rareA surname from Middle English.

purplenoun/ˈpɜː.pl̩/

  • 1

    A colour between red and blue; violet, though often closer to magenta.

    • Arraying with reflected Purple and Gold / The Clouds that on his Weſtern Throne attend.
  • 2

    Any non-spectral colour on the line of purples on a colour chromaticity diagram or a colour wheel between violet and red.

  • 3

    Cloth, or a garment, dyed a purple colour; especially, a purple robe, worn as an emblem of rank or authority; specifically, the purple robe or mantle worn by Ancient Roman emperors as the emblem of imperial dignity.

    • to put on the imperial purple
    • Thy head as Carmelus: and the heares of thy head as a kings purple tyed to cundite pipes.
  • 4

    Imperial power.

    • 1776-1788, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire He was born in the purple.
    • When we picture to ourselves his [Napoleon’s] dawning military genius at Toulon—his daring and decided politics in the storms of the Revolution—his Cæsarian ambition in assuming the purple—[…]
  • 5

    Any of various species of mollusks from which Tyrian purple dye was obtained, especially the common dog whelk.

  • 6

    The purple haze cultivar of cannabis in the kush family, either pure or mixed with others, or by extension any variety of smoked marijuana.

    • "Sure, some purple Owlsley."
    • “Purple smoke is no joke. Especially when it is real purple. The smell, taste, and high is easily one of the best in the world. One bowl of some purple Kush, and I'm done for a couple of hours.
  • 7

    medicinesciencesPurpura.

  • 8

    Earcockle, a disease of wheat.

另外 3 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    Any of the species of large butterflies, usually marked with purple or blue, of the genus Basilarchia (formerly Limenitis).

    • the banded purple
  • 10

    A cardinalate.

  • 11

    slangSynonym of snakebite and black.

purpleadj/ˈpɜː.pl̩/

  • 1

    Of a purple hue.

    • So this was my future home, I thought![…]Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
  • 2

    governmentpoliticsNot predominantly red or blue, but having a mixture of Democrat and Republican support.

    • purple state
    • purple city
  • 3

    Mixed between social democrats and liberals.

  • 4

    Imperial; regal.

    • Grovel on the earth: aye, hide / In the dust thy purple pride!
  • 5

    Blood-red; bloody.

    • O may ſuch purple teares be alway ſhed
    • Wars, horrid Wars I view; a field of Blood; / And Tyber rolling with a Purple Flood.
  • 6

    literaturemediapublishingOf language, extravagantly ornate, like purple prose.

    • Near-synonyms: flowery, overwrought
    • A writer who has made a career of churning out thick novels may be expected to write too quickly to notice that patches of her writing are unbearably purple.
  • 7

    hobbieslifestylemotor-racingOf a sector, lap, etc., completed in the fastest time so far in a given session.

purpleverb/ˈpɜː.pl̩/

  • 1

    To turn purple in colour.

    • [T]he Capri cliffs, the tops of which were still pink against the purpling sky.
    • The gang leader purpled and raised his gun.
  • 2

    To dye purple.

    • Year after year unto her feet, / She lying on her couch alone, / Across the purpled coverlet, / The maiden's jet-black hair has grown, […]
  • 3

    To clothe in purple.

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。