喜樂美語

Picture two sentences written on a board, using the same words in the same order, one of which sounds fine and one of which sounds wrong. Nothing about their shape explains the difference. Whatever does explain it is meaning — the side of language you cannot see in the letters. Semantics is the word for that side: sometimes the study of it, sometimes the meaning itself that a word or a line of code is carrying, and sometimes a complaint that a discussion has drifted onto it and away from the real question.

可以想成這個畫面：黑板上寫著兩個句子，用一樣的字、一樣的順序，可是一句很自然、一句怪怪的。從字的形狀上完全看不出差在哪裡。真正造成差別的是「意思」——語言裡看不見的那一面。semantics 就是在講那一面：有時候指研究它的學問，有時候指一個字或一行程式碼實際帶著的意思，有時候則是在抱怨話題跑到用字上，離真正的問題越來越遠。

From the word’s history

Recorded as coming from French sémantique (which displaced the earlier semasiology), going back to Ancient Greek σημαντικός (sēmantikós); by surface analysis, semantic + -ics, the ending English uses for the name of a field, as in physics and politics.

資料記載它來自法文 sémantique（取代了更早的 semasiology），再往前可以追到古希臘文 σημαντικός（sēmantikós）。從表面拆開看是 semantic 加上 -ics；英文裡 -ics 這個字尾常常用來命名一門學問，像 physics、politics，所以它一開始就是以「學科名」的身分進入英文的。

Wiktionary, "semantics"

登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

同家族的字

意思相近

meaning studiesmeaninghair-splittingsensenitpickingdenotationquibblingbehaviourwordplay

意思相反

syntaxsubstancephoneticsformthe real issuewording

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。

semanticsnoun/sɪˈmæntɪks/

  • 1

    human-scienceslinguisticssciencesA branch of linguistics studying the meaning of words.

    • Holonym: linguistics
    • Meronyms: semasiology, onomasiology
  • 2

    The study of the relationship between words and their meanings.

    • In fact, nowadays a lot is known about the semantics of natural languages, and it is surprisingly easy to build semantic representations which partially capture the meaning of sentences or even entire discourses.
  • 3

    The meaning or set of meanings of a linguistic element, such as a word, morpheme or utterance.

    • In very ancient or poorly documented languages, the precise semantics of words tend to be uncertain.
  • 4

    The meaning or set of meanings of a linguistic element, such as a word, morpheme or utterance.

    • The semantics of the terms used are debatable.
  • 5

    computercomputingengineeringThe meaning of computer language constructs, in contrast to their form or syntax.

    • file sharing and locking semantics
  • 6

    Pettiness or triviality.

    • Who cares? This is all just semantics!

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。