- 1典範；精髓（最能代表某事物的那一個）
Today, the quintessence of something is the perfect, most typical example of it — the thing that seems to hold the whole idea in one place. ‘She is the quintessence of kindness’ means her kindness is the very heart of what kindness looks like. The word is a little literary; in plain talk people more often say ‘a perfect example’ or use the adjective quintessential. Behind it is an old picture of the world: Earth, Air, Fire and Water were the four known ‘essences’ (here essence means element), and added a fifth, aether, finer than the rest. Medieval Latin called that fifth essence quinta essentia. English kept the word and slowly moved it from ‘the purest stuff’ to ‘the purest example’. You may still meet the old ‘fifth element’ sense in history or science writing about Aristotle.
組成From Medieval Latin quinta essentia, ‘fifth essence’ (aether), equivalent to quint- + essence. In that old theory, essence means element: four known ones, plus a fifth of higher quality.
同家族的字
- essencethe second half of the word; here it once meant ‘element’
- quintessentialthe usual adjective from this noun
- quintessentiallythe adverb from that adjective
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，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。
quintessencenoun/kwɪnˈtɛs.əns/
- 1
A thing that is the most perfect example of its type; the most perfect embodiment of something; epitome, prototype.
- As families and kindreds sometimes do; producing, after long ages of unnoted notability, some living quintescence of all the qualities they had, to flame forth as a man world-noted […]
- The Pagans did well enough; I cordially admire the refinement of their minds; but it has been reserved for a Christian country to attain this extreme, this quintessence, this absolute of poignancy.
- 2
A pure substance.
- 3
The essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form.
- For vvhat is ſilke but eu'n a Quinteſſence, / Made vvithout hands beyond al humane ſenſe? / A quinteſſence? nay vvel it may be call'd, / A deathleſſe tincture, ſent vs from the skies, / VVhoſe colour ſtands, vvhose gloſſe is ne're appalld, […]
- Let ther be Light, ſaid God, and forthwith Light, / Ethereal, firſt of things, quinteſſence pure, / Sprung from the Deep, […]
- 4
alchemypseudoscienceThe fifth alchemical element, or essence, after earth, air, fire, and water that fills the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere.
- 5
natural-sciencesphysical-sciencesphysicsA hypothetical form of dark energy postulated to explain observations of an accelerating universe.
quintessenceverb/kwɪnˈtɛs.əns/
- 1
To reduce to its purest and most concentrated essence.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。