核心畫面

Think of terrific as a size word before it is a praise word: whatever it touches is off the normal scale — a terrific bang, a terrific speed, a terrific headache. The reaction it describes is the small you make when something is far bigger than you expected. Praise is what happens when that turns friendly.

可以想成 terrific 先是個「程度」的字,後來才變成「稱讚」的字。它碰到什麼,什麼就超出正常刻度:a terr更多收起可以想成 terrific 先是個「程度」的字,後來才變成「稱讚」的字。它碰到什麼,什麼就超出正常刻度:a terrific bang(一聲巨響)、a terrific headache(頭痛得要命)、at a terrific speed(快得驚人)。畫面比較像你倒抽一口氣的那一下——東西大得超出預期。等這口氣變成開心的,就成了「棒極了」。

From the word’s history

From Latin terrificus 'causing terror or fear, frightful' (terrere 'to fill with fear' + facere 'to make'). English used it for 'terrifying' from the 1660s; the weakened sense 'very great, severe, excessive' (a terrific headache) is recorded by 1809, and the inverted colloquial sense 'excellent' by 1888 — the same softening that happened to awful and terrible.

源自拉丁文 terrificus「令人恐懼的」(terrere 使人害怕 + facere 使成為),1660 年代進英文時就是「可怕的」。到 1809 年語氣轉弱,變成「非常大、非常劇烈」(a terrific headache);1888 年再翻轉成口語的「棒極了」。這條線也解釋了為什麼 terrific 和 terrible、terror 長得像卻走到相反的方向——awful 也走過同一段路。

Etymonline, entry 'terrific' (etymonline.com/word/terrific)

From the picture

好到極點

同一個「超出刻度」的畫面,只是往開心的方向翻過去:東西好得超出預期,也會讓人倒抽一口氣。這是今天最常聽到的用法。

extremely good · adjective · B1

Extremely good, in a way that makes you feel excited or pleased.

棒極了;極好的

Also in this word

very great in size · adjective · B1

Very large in size or degree — much bigger, louder, faster, or stronger than usual.

極大的;非常大的

原始詞典資料3 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。

terrificadj

  • 1

    archaicCausing terror; terrifying.

    • [T]he diſmal ſhrieks of demoniac rage […] rouſed phantoms of horror in her mind, far more terrific than all that dreaming ſuperſtition ever drew.
    • Think of wandering amid sepulchral ruins, of stumbling over the bones of the dead, of encountering what I cannot describe,—the horror of being among those who are neither the living or the dead;—those dark and shadowless things that sport themselves with the reliques of the dead, and feast and love amid corruption,—ghastly, mocking, and terrific.
  • 2

    Very strong or intense; excessive, tremendous.

    • The car came round the bend at a terrific speed.
    • I've got a terrific hangover this morning.
  • 3

    Extremely good; excellent, amazing.

    • I say! She's a terrific tennis player.

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。