核心畫面

One way to hold this word: several separate, simpler things go in, and one new thing comes out — a thing that was not lying around anywhere before. Nobody went out and collected it. It was built. Whether the pieces are chemicals on a bench, articles on a desk, or electronic tones in a machine, the move is the same: put the simple parts together until they become one whole with a character of its own.

這個字可以想成一個畫面:幾樣分開的、比較簡單的東西放進去,出來的是一個新的整體。這個整體本來哪裡都找不到,不是去採來更多收起這個字可以想成一個畫面:幾樣分開的、比較簡單的東西放進去,出來的是一個新的整體。這個整體本來哪裡都找不到,不是去採來的,是做出來的。放進去的可以是實驗桌上的化學品、桌上攤開的幾篇文章,也可以是機器裡幾個簡單的電子音。動作都一樣:把簡單的成分揉在一起,直到它變成一個有自己樣子的整體。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary in the packet records it as synthesis + -ize, first attested in 1830, so the word literally names the act of carrying out a synthesis — a putting-together.

手上的資料記載這個字是 synthesis(合成、綜合)加上動詞字尾 -ize,最早見於 1830 年。字面上就是「去做一次 synthesis」,也就是「把東西合起來」這個動作本身。

Wiktionary entry supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:896888051:15743): From synthesis + -ize. First attested in 1830.

Two branches

把分開的東西做成一個整體

這一組就是核心畫面本身,只是材料不同:一邊是物質,一邊是想法。

verb · C1

To make a substance by putting simpler substances together, usually in a chemical process, instead of getting the finished substance from nature.

合成(製造)

用電子方式堆出聲音

材料變成電子訊號,出來的整體是一個聲音。麥克風是把現成的聲音抓下來,這裡剛好相反:聲音是一層一層堆出來的,所以還是同一個「做出來」的畫面。

verb · C1

To produce sound, speech, or music with electronic equipment or a computer, by building it up from simple electronic parts instead of recording a real voice or instrument.

(用電子方式)合成聲音