- 1nA2
/səˈmestər/ · /səˈmestə/
One of the two or three periods that a school or university year is divided into, especially in the US.
學期
複數 semesters
核心畫面
Picture the school year cut into two big blocks (three, at some places). Each block is a whole small life of its own: it opens, you pick your courses, you work through them, you sit the final exams, and it closes with grades. Then the next block starts from zero. A `semester` is one of those blocks.
可以想成把一整個學年切成兩大塊（有些學校切成三塊）。每一塊自己就是一段完整的過程：開學、選課、一路上完、期末考，然後…更多收起
可以想成把一整個學年切成兩大塊（有些學校切成三塊）。每一塊自己就是一段完整的過程：開學、選課、一路上完、期末考，然後結算成績收尾；下一塊再從頭來過。semester 指的就是這樣一塊。From the word’s history
Semester came into English in 1827 meaning 'a period of six months', borrowed from German university life, from Latin semestris (as in cursus semestris, 'course of six months'), which is sex 'six' + mensis 'month'. Twelve months cut in two gives six — so the word was born meaning 'half a year', which is exactly why a school year holds two of them.
semester 1827 年進入英文，當時的意思是「六個月的一段時間」，是從德國的大學制度借過來的，再往上是拉丁文 semestris（cursus semestris，「六個月的課程」），由 sex（六）加 mensis（月）組成。十二個月切成兩半就是六個月——所以這個字天生的意思就是「一年的一半」，這也正好解釋了為什麼一學年裝得下兩個 semester。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry 'semester': 1827, 'period or term of six months', from Latin semestris (cursus semestris 'course of six months'), from assimilated form of sex 'six' + mensis 'month'; adopted in the US on the German university model.
原始詞典資料2 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。
semesternoun/sɪˈmɛstə/
- 1
Half of a school year (US) or academic year such as autumn or spring semester.
- I will graduate at the end of the spring semester.
- 2
A period or term of six months.
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。