聲音本身：尖到刺耳
這一組直接就是核心畫面，沒有轉彎。一個是用形容詞說那個聲音，一個是把那個聲音當成東西來指。
adjective · B2
A shrill sound is very high and sharp, and unpleasant to hear. It is easy to hear above other noise, and it often makes people want to cover their ears.
尖銳刺耳的
核心畫面
One thin, very high sound that is too sharp for the ear. It does not have to be loud. It gets through everything else in the room and you cannot put it aside, and after a few seconds you want it to stop. Every other use of shrill borrows that feeling — the bird, the kettle, the phone, and then the voice, and then the argument that lands on people the same way.
「shrill」的核心畫面可以想成一根又細又尖的聲音。它像針一樣刺過空氣。它不一定最大聲，但它穿得最深。房間裡其他聲…更多收起
「shrill」的核心畫面可以想成一根又細又尖的聲音。它像針一樣刺過空氣。它不一定最大聲，但它穿得最深。房間裡其他聲音都擋不住它。聽了幾秒，你就會希望它停下來。這個字後面所有的用法，都可以想成從這個感覺長出來：鳥叫、水壺、電話鈴，接著是人的嗓音，最後連一段話、一種主張，都可以被說成「聽起來就像那個聲音」。From the word’s history
Late Middle English schrille, from Old English sċill (sounding, sonorous); the source notes it is probably imitative, that is, the word was made to sound like the noise it names.
來源說 shrill 出自中古英語 schrille，更早是古英語 sċill（響亮的），而且很可能一開始就是在模仿聲音本身。這條線索正好對上它的核心畫面：這個字的重點從頭到尾都在「那個聲音聽起來怎麼樣」，不在別的地方。
Wiktionary etymology_text supplied in the evidence packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:891008688:22365)
Three branches
發出或用尖聲說
把核心畫面變成動作：不是「聲音是尖的」，而是「有東西正在尖聲響」。兩個用法都被來源標成書面，多半在小說裡遇到。
verb · C1
To make a very high, sharp, unpleasant sound. It takes no object, and the source marks it as a written use, so it appears mostly in stories and descriptive writing.
發出尖銳聲響
比喻：聽起來就像那種聲音的話和人
這一組把耳朵的經驗搬到意見上。一段話、一個人，可以像刺耳的聲音一樣讓人想關耳朵。這是一種評價，不是描述——用這個字的人立場已經站好了。
adjective · C1
Used about complaints, criticism, demands or arguments that are made too loudly or too strongly, so that they begin to seem unreasonable.
尖刻強硬的