喜樂美語

核心畫面

One small scene holds the whole word: milk passing from a mother to her baby at the breast or udder. Nothing else changes across the entries — only where you stand while you watch. Stand with the mother and she suckles the baby. Stand with the baby and it suckles at her. Freeze the scene and count it once, and you get the noun, a suckle.

可以想成一個很小的畫面：奶從媽媽的乳房流到寶寶嘴裡。整個字都在這個畫面裡打轉，變的只是你站在哪一邊看。站在媽媽那邊，…更多收起可以想成一個很小的畫面：奶從媽媽的乳房流到寶寶嘴裡。整個字都在這個畫面裡打轉，變的只是你站在哪一邊看。站在媽媽那邊，她 suckles 寶寶，是餵。站在寶寶那邊，牠 suckles at 媽媽，是喝。把這個畫面定格、當成一次事件來數，就成了名詞 a suckle。所以看句子的主詞是誰，方向就出來了。

From the word’s history

The packet's source entry says suckle is probably a back-formation from Middle English sukeling, a baby still taking milk, and analyses it as suck plus the frequentative ending -le. That fits the picture: repeated sucking, mouthful after mouthful.

packet 裡的來源說明寫著：suckle 大概是從中古英語 sukeling（還在吃奶的幼兒）反過來造出來的動詞，拆開來看是 suck 加上表示「一再重複」的字尾 -le。這一點正好扣住那個畫面——吸奶不是一口就結束，而是一口接一口。

Wiktionary etymology field supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1147587644)

One branch

同一個動作的兩邊：餵與喝

這一組就是核心畫面本身。英文沒有為「餵」和「喝」各造一個字，而是讓同一個動詞兩邊都用；判斷方向的線索只有一個，就是主詞是誰。

verb · C1

If a mother, or a female animal, suckles her baby, she feeds it with milk from her breast or udder. The mother is the subject of the verb and the baby is the object.

哺乳、餵奶

原始詞典資料5 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。

sucklenoun/ˈsʌk.əl/

  • 1

    obsoleteA teat.

    • […] the body of this fish [the Mannatee] is commonly 3 yards long and one broad, slow in swimming, wanting fins, in their place ayded with 2 paps which are not only suckles but stilts to creep a shoare upon such time she grazes […]
  • 2

    An act of suckling

    • The baby was having a suckle at its mother's breast.

suckleverb/ˈsʌk.əl/

  • 1

    To give suck to; to nurse at the breast, udder, or dugs.

    • […] the breasts of Hecuba When she did suckle Hector, looked not lovelier Than Hector’s forehead when it spit forth blood At Grecian sword, contemning.
    • Let us indulge them; they are not weak, suckled by Wisdom, taught to walk by Virtue.
  • 2

    To nurse; to suck milk from a nursing mother.

    • But out of the woman’s great brown breast the milk gushed forth for the child, milk as white as snow, and when the child suckled at one breast it flowed like a fountain from the other, and she let it flow.
  • 3

    To nurse from (a breast, nursing mother, etc.).

    • Buz attempted to suckle his left nipple.
    • She opened her eyes slightly, like a person drugged—dreamy and quiet. The baby suckled her.

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。