喜樂美語

核心畫面

A boundary line that marks something off. From the idea of 'a marked-off limit' grow two centres that look unrelated but share the same root: a TERM as a word — a meaning marked off from all others by a fixed label (the medical term, to term something) — and a TERM as a stretch of time or set of conditions marked off by clear limits (a term of office, a school term, the terms of a deal). Hold the boundary, and both centres make sense.

可以想成一條把東西圈起來的界線。從「被劃出來的界限」這個想法，長出兩個看似無關、其實同根的中心：一個是 term 當…更多收起可以想成一條把東西圈起來的界線。從「被劃出來的界限」這個想法，長出兩個看似無關、其實同根的中心：一個是 term 當「詞語」——一個被固定標籤從所有其他意思裡圈出來的意義（醫學術語、term something 把某物命名為…）；另一個是 term 當「一段時間或一組條件」——被清楚界限框住的範圍（任期、學期、交易的條款）。抓住「界線」這個畫面，兩個中心就都說得通了。

原始詞典資料25 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。

termnoun詞源 1/tɜːm/

  • 1

    That which limits the extent of anything; limit, extremity, bound, boundary, terminus.

    • Corruption is a reciprocal to generation, and they two are as nature's two terms, or boundaries.
    • At the decline of day, Winding above the mountain’s snowy term, New banners shone: […]
  • 2

    A chronological limitation or restriction, a limited timespan.

    • The term of a lease agreement is the period of time during which the lease is effective, and may be fixed, periodic, or of indefinite duration.
  • 3

    Any of the binding conditions or promises in a legal contract.

    • Be sure to read the terms and conditions before signing.
  • 4

    Specifically, the conditions in a legal contract that specify the price and also how and when payment must be made.

    • Q: What are your company's terms? A: Net thirty, cash or check. [This answer means that the net total must be paid within 30 days; see Net D.]
    • The latest models are available now, on the lowest terms you'll find anywhere, guaranteed.
  • 5

    archaicgeometrymathematicssciencesA point, line, or superficies that limits.

    • A line is the term of a superficies, and a superficies is the term of a solid.
  • 6

    A word or phrase (e.g., noun phrase, verb phrase, open compound), especially one from a specialised area of knowledge; a name for a concept.

    • "Algorithm" is a term used in computer science.
    • The noun phrase "red blood cell", the acronym "RBC", and the word "erythrocyte" are synonymous terms.
  • 7

    Relations among people.

    • We are on friendly terms with each other.
    • Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part.[…]Next day she[…]tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and perhaps had spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.
  • 8

    Part of a year, especially one of the divisions of an academic year.

    • From 1960 to 1963 I spent my terms at Cambridge University but was back home for the vacs[.]
另外 11 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    Duration of officeholding, or its limit; period in office of fixed length.

    • He was sentenced to a term of six years in prison.
    • near-term, mid-term and long-term goals
  • 10

    Duration of officeholding, or its limit; period in office of fixed length.

  • 11

    Duration of officeholding, or its limit; period in office of fixed length.

  • 12

    With respect to a pregnancy, the usual duration of gestation for the given species (for example, nine months in humans); (metonymic) the end of this duration: the timepoint at which birth usually happens (for example, in humans, approximately 40 weeks from conception), defining the due date.

    • A pregnancy didn't come to term.
    • at term
  • 13

    The maximum period during which the patent can be maintained into force.

  • 14

    archaicA menstrual period.

    • My wife, after the absence of her terms for seven weeks, gave me hopes of her being with child, but on the last day of the year she hath them again.
  • 15

    mathematicssciencesAny value (variable or constant) or expression separated from another term by a space or an appropriate character, in an overall expression or table.

    • All the terms of this sum cancel out.
    • One only term is odd in ( 12; 3; 4 ).
  • 16

    human-scienceslogicmathematicsThe subject or the predicate of a proposition; one of the three component parts of a syllogism, each one of which is used twice.

    • The subject and predicate of a proposition are, after Aristotle, together called its terms or extremes.
  • 17

    astrologyhuman-sciencesmysticismAn essential dignity in which unequal segments of every astrological sign have internal rulerships which affect the power and integrity of each planet in a natal chart.

  • 18

    artartsA statue of the upper body, sometimes without the arms, ending in a pillar or pedestal.

    • The pillers that haue bolſtered vp thoſe tearmes, Are falne in cluſters at my conquering feet.
    • You have been already informed, I have no doubt, of the subject which we have chosen: the adorning a Term of Hymen with festoons of flowers.
  • 19

    nauticaltransportA piece of carved work placed under each end of the taffrail.

termverb詞源 1/tɜːm/

  • 1

    To phrase a certain way; to name or call.

    • Abstraction or prescision ought to be carefully distinguished from two other modes of mental separation, which may be termed discrimination and dissociation.
    • The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.

termadj詞源 1/tɜːm/

  • 1

    medicinesciencesBorn or delivered at term.

    • term neonate

termnoun詞源 2/tɜːm/

  • 1

    informalcomputingengineeringmathematicsA computer program that emulates a physical terminal.

termverb詞源 3/tɜːm/

  • 1

    informalTo terminate someone's employment.

  • 2

    informalTo delete someone's account.

termnoun詞源 3/tɜːm/

  • 1

    One whose employment has been terminated

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。