隨行的一群人
這其實是這個字在英文裡最早的意思，也是「跟隨」這個源頭最直接的樣子：一群人跟在一位重要人物後面。後來「一個跟著一個」慢慢變成「成套」，才有了前面那些用法。
suite (entourage) · noun · C1
the group of people who work for or help an important person.
隨員；隨行人員
核心畫面
Picture things that come one after another and belong to the same set: rooms that open into each other, chairs and a sofa bought as one, short pieces of music played in order, programs sold as one package. The word never means a single item — it always means the whole set, arriving together.
可以想成：一件接著一件、而且屬於同一組的東西——彼此相通的房間、一起買回來的沙發和椅子、按順序演奏的幾首小曲子、一次…更多收起
可以想成：一件接著一件、而且屬於同一組的東西——彼此相通的房間、一起買回來的沙發和椅子、按順序演奏的幾首小曲子、一次賣給你的一整包軟體。這個字從來不指單一一樣東西，它指的永遠是「整組一起來」。它最早的意思其實是「跟在後面的一群人」（隨員），從「跟隨」長出「成套」，這條線把它所有的用法串在一起。From the word’s history
From French suite, from Old French suite/sieute 'act of following, attendance', from Latin sequi 'to follow' — it is a later borrowing of the same French source that gave English suit. The oldest English sense (1670s) is 'train of followers, company of attendants'; the musical sense follows in the 1680s, the connected set of rooms in 1716, and the set of furniture in 1805.
來自法文 suite，再往上是古法文 suite/sieute「跟隨、隨侍」，源頭是拉丁文 sequi「跟著走」；它跟英文的 suit 其實是同一個法文來源，只是借進來的時間比較晚。英文裡最早的意思（1670 年代）正是「隨行的一群人」，1680 年代出現音樂上的組曲，1716 年才有「相連的房間」，1805 年再有「成套家具」——所以「成套」這個意思是從「一個跟著一個」長出來的。
Etymonline, 'suite' — https://www.etymonline.com/word/suite
From the picture
Also in this word
suite (hotel rooms) · noun · B1
a set of connected rooms, especially nice ones in a hotel.
套房
suite (furniture) · noun · B1
a set of furniture that matches, made for the same room.
成套家具
software suite · noun · B2
a group of related computer programs that work together as one set.
軟體套件
suite (music) · noun · B2
a piece of music made of several short parts that belong together.
組曲
原始詞典資料6 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。
suitenoun/swiːt/
- 1
A group or train of attendants, servants etc.; a retinue.
- [A]s to men, we shall live altogether at the Duc de Romagnecourt's, his suite of servants will be ours.
- 2
A connected series or succession of objects; a number of things used or classed together.
- a suite of rooms
- a suite of minerals
- 3
A group of connected rooms, usually separable from other rooms by means of access.
- The Presidential suite is well appointed and allows for good security.
- 4
entertainmentlifestylemusicA musical form, popular before the time of the sonata, consisting of a string or series of pieces all in the same key, mostly in various dance rhythms, with sometimes an elaborate prelude.
- 5
entertainmentlifestylemusicAn excerpt of instrumental music from a larger work that contains other elements besides the music; for example, the Nutcracker Suite is the music (but not the dancing) from the ballet The Nutcracker, and the Carmen Suite is the instrumental music (but not the singing and dancing) from the opera Carmen.
- 6
computingengineeringmathematicsA group of related computer programs distributed together.
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。