擋在外面的那罐東西
這一組把核心畫面裝進瓶子裡：那層看不見的膜是你自己噴上去的。
noun · B2
A liquid, spray, or cream that you put on your skin, your clothes, or around a room to keep insects away from you.
驅蟲劑；防蚊液
核心畫面
Think of a thin, invisible wall sitting on the outside of something. A mosquito flies at it, a raindrop lands on it, an idea arrives at it — and none of them get in. They stop and turn away. Nothing is destroyed; the only thing that happens is distance. English builds the word exactly that way: repel means push back, and -ent names the thing doing the pushing.
repellent 可以想成一層看不見的薄膜，貼在人或東西的外面。蚊子飛過來、雨滴落下來、一個念頭冒出來，碰到這層膜…更多收起
repellent 可以想成一層看不見的薄膜，貼在人或東西的外面。蚊子飛過來、雨滴落下來、一個念頭冒出來，碰到這層膜都進不去，只好退開。重點不是把對方消滅，而是拉開距離。這個畫面同時解釋了噴在皮膚上的防蚊液、噴在鞋面上的防水劑、會撥水的布料，還有讓你一看就想退一步的那種厭惡。From the word’s history
From Latin repellens, from repel plus the ending -ent; equivalent in modern English to repel + -ent, literally the thing that drives back.
來自拉丁文 repellēns，在現代英文裡等於 repel（推回去）加上 -ent（做這件事的東西或人）。所以字面上就是「把東西推回去的那個」，這正好是今天四個用法共同的畫面。
Wiktionary entry for repellent (packet evidence, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:726985838:11131): From Latin repellēns. Equivalent to repel + -ent.
Three branches
擋得住的那塊材質
這裡那層膜不是另外噴上去的，而是材質本身就有；所以字要跟擋住的東西合寫成 water-repellent。
adjective · B2
Able to keep a substance on the outside so that it does not soak in or stick. In this use the word is joined to whatever it keeps out: water-repellent, dust-repellent, stain-repellent.
防…的；撥…的
讓人想退開的
把同一個推開的動作從物理搬到感覺上：退開的不是水滴，是你自己的腳步和心情。
adjective · C1
So unpleasant that you want to move away from it, or want nothing to do with it. It can describe a look, a smell, a person, or an idea.
令人厭惡的