拿人做買賣：做這門生意的人，和替它跑的船
這兩個意思其實是同一個畫面的兩個位置：一個是站在碼頭簽單子的人，一個是靠在碼頭邊那艘船。
noun · C1
Someone who made money by buying and selling human beings as slaves. It is used about people in the past, above all about the traders of the Atlantic slave trade.
奴隸販子
這個拼法底下其實是2個不同的字，意思沒有關係， 只是長得一樣。下面分開列出來。跳到 奴隸販子 · 流口水
1
slaver
noun核心畫面
One way to hold this word: it is slave with the ordinary -er on the end, the same -er as in baker or trader — the one who does this for a living. What is being here is people, and that single fact carries the whole weight of the word. English then lets the same -er name the thing that does the job as well as the person, so the ship gets the name too.
可以想成 slave 後面加上一個普通的 -er，就是 baker、trader 那個 -er：做這一行的人。差別只…更多收起
可以想成 slave 後面加上一個普通的 -er，就是 baker、trader 那個 -er：做這一行的人。差別只在被買賣的東西是人。整個字的重量都壓在這一點上，所以它讀起來從來不是中性的。英文的 -er 又不只用在人身上，也能指「做這件事的那個東西」，像 whaler 是捕鯨船。順著這條線，替這門買賣跑的船也叫 slaver。From the word’s history
Wiktionary derives this slaver from English slave + -er, with slave itself coming through Old French esclave from Medieval Latin sclavus. The modern meaning sits right on top of that build: the person who deals in slaves.
Wiktionary 的字源樹寫得很直接：slaver ＝ slave ＋ -er，而 slave 是經古法文 esclave、中古拉丁文 sclavus 一路傳進英文的。今天的意思就疊在這個組合上：跟奴隸打交道的那個人。
Wiktionary entry for slaver (noun, etymology 2), packet source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1276528567 — etymology tree ending 'English slave + English -er → English slaver'.
One branch
A second word, same spelling
2
slaver
verb, noun核心畫面
A different word that only looks the same. One way to hold it: a mouth that will not stay shut, with running over the lip — a dog at a bowl, a beast in a story. Say the word slowly and the mouth goes loose in the same way; slaver, slabber and are all built out of that sound.
這是另一個字，只是拼法剛好一樣。一種想法是：一張合不起來的嘴，口水從嘴角一直往下掉。可能是等飯的狗，也可能是故事裡的…更多收起
這是另一個字，只是拼法剛好一樣。一種想法是：一張合不起來的嘴，口水從嘴角一直往下掉。可能是等飯的狗，也可能是故事裡的野獸。把這個字慢慢唸一次，嘴巴也會鬆鬆的；slaver、slabber、slobber 都是從這種聲音長出來的字。唸的時候要注意：這個是 /ˈslævə/，跟「奴隸販子」的 /ˈsleɪvə/ 不同。From the word’s history
Wiktionary traces this slaver to Middle English slaveren, from Old Norse slafra, 'probably imitative', and calls it a doublet of slabber. The sound of the word is doing the work.
Wiktionary 說這個 slaver 來自中古英文 slaveren，更早是古諾斯語 slafra，而且「多半是模仿聲音」造出來的，跟 slabber 是同源兄弟字。也就是說，這個字的意思有一部分就藏在它的聲音裡。
Wiktionary entry for slaver (verb / noun, etymology 1), packet source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1276518858 — 'From Middle English slaveren, from Old Norse slafra, probably imitative. Doublet of slabber.'
From the picture
嘴邊的口水：流的動作，和流出來的東西
同一幅畫面，鏡頭拉遠拉近的差別：一個看的是嘴在做什麼，一個看的是垂下來的那條口水。
verb · C2
To let saliva run out of your mouth, usually because you want food very much. It is a literary word, and writers mostly use it about a hungry animal.
流口水
Also in this word
noun · C2
The saliva that runs out of a person's or an animal's mouth; drool. It cannot be counted, so it has no plural: you say some slaver, not a slaver.
口水