喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can picture sue as formally chasing after something you feel is owed to you — not shouting for it, but following it through the proper channel until someone with authority answers. Picture pressing a demand step by step through a court until it is decided.

可以想成：sue 是「照正式管道，一路追著你認為該還給你的東西不放」。不是當街吵架，而是把一個要求送進法院這種有權力…更多收起可以想成：sue 是「照正式管道，一路追著你認為該還給你的東西不放」。不是當街吵架，而是把一個要求送進法院這種有權力的地方，一步一步逼它給出結果。

From the word’s history

sue comes from Old French suir/sivre 'to follow, pursue', from Latin sequi 'to follow'. Around 1300 'follow a matter in court' narrowed into today's legal sense — both meanings are still 'pursuing/following a claim through to the end'.

sue 來自古法語 suir/sivre「跟隨、追」，再往上是拉丁文 sequi「跟隨」。約 1300 年「在法庭上追一件事」慢慢定型成今天的「提告」——不管是告人還是求和，底下都還是那個「追著一個訴求走到底」的畫面。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com/word/sue)

原始詞典資料8 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。

Suename/suː/

  • 1

    A diminutive of the female given name Susan and of related female given names; popular as a middle name.

    • For the last decade at least, the trend seems to be that more untraditional names are being chosen over the Bobs, the Toms, the Sues and the Marys.

Suenoun/suː/

  • 1

    informalSynonym of Mary Sue (“type of character in fiction”).

sueverb/sjuː/

  • 1

    To file a legal action against someone, generally a non-criminal (civil) action.

    • sue someone for selling a faulty product
    • I plan to sue you for everything you have.
  • 2

    To seek by request; to make application; to petition; to entreat; to plead.

    • The king of Bimsa sued for peace after Nynal's armies overran his territory; he knew any further resistance would only harm the common people.
  • 3

    falconryhobbieshuntingTo clean (the beak, etc.).

  • 4

    nauticaltransportTo leave high and dry on shore.

    • to sue a ship
  • 5

    obsoleteTo court.

  • 6

    obsoleteTo follow.

    • And the olde knyght seyde unto the yonge knyght, ‘Sir, swith me.’
    • though oft looking backward, well she vewd, / Her selfe freed from that foster insolent, / And that it was a knight, which now her sewd, / Yet she no lesse the knight feard, then that villein rude.

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。