動作：快而隨便地寫或畫
這一家就是核心畫面本身。同一個手部動作，差別只在紙上出現的是字還是線；英文用文法把兩者分開，寫字的那一邊要接受詞，亂畫的那一邊不接。
verb · B2
To write something very quickly and without care, so the letters come out messy.
潦草地寫／匆匆寫下
核心畫面
Picture a hand moving fast and loose across paper. Whatever comes out of that hand — letters, loops, lines — comes out rough, because speed and care are pulling in opposite directions. Scribble names that fast loose movement first. Then it also names what the movement leaves behind on the page. Notice what the word does not say: nothing about the writing being wrong, and nothing about the person. A scribbled note can be perfectly good English, and a child's scribble is exactly what a small hand is meant to make.
可以想成一隻手在紙上又快又鬆地動。手一快，筆畫就散開。至於畫出來的是字還是線條，這個字其實不太在意。scribble…更多收起
可以想成一隻手在紙上又快又鬆地動。手一快，筆畫就散開。至於畫出來的是字還是線條，這個字其實不太在意。scribble 先是那個「快而隨便」的動作。接著也用來指這個動作留在紙上的東西。還有一件事值得注意：這個字沒有在說內容不好，也沒有在說人不好。趕著寫的便條，句子可以很清楚；小孩畫的那一團線，本來就是那個年紀該有的樣子。From the word’s history
Wiktionary takes scribble back through Middle English scriblen to Latin scrībō, to write, and analyses the modern word as scribe plus the frequentative ending -le, an ending that adds the idea of doing something over and over. Write-write-write, quickly and repeatedly, is exactly the hand movement the word still describes.
Wiktionary 把 scribble 追到中古英語 scriblen，再回到拉丁文 scrībō（寫），並把它拆成 scribe（書寫）加上 -le 這個表示「反覆、連續做」的字尾。「一直寫、一直寫」的味道，正好接上今天「手動得很快、筆畫就散開」的畫面。
Wiktionary, English 'scribble' etymology 1 (packet etymology_text; source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:662678199:13365)
Three branches
東西：留在紙上的痕跡
英文直接把動作的名字拿來叫動作的結果，不另外造字。所以同一個 scribble 從動詞變成名詞，指的就是紙上那一片東西——它是字還是線，就分成下面兩個意思。
noun · B2
Marks, lines or drawings that do not stand for anything, especially the kind that small children make.
塗鴉／亂畫的線條
引申：把寫作說得很小
把「隨手寫寫」從一張紙放大到一個人的工作。用了這個字，就等於刻意把那份寫作講得不值幾個錢——講自己是謙虛，講別人就可能不客氣。
verb · C1
To write books or articles, spoken about in a way that treats the writing as small, rough, or not very good.
（自謙或貶）寫文章維生