A terse piece of language uses very few words. It is short, and — this is the part students miss — the shortness usually carries a feeling.

A terse piece of language一段terse的話 uses very few words用字非常少。It is short它很簡短，and — this is the part students miss — the shortness usually carries a feeling而且——這是學生常常沒注意到的部分——這種簡短通常帶著一種情緒。

Say your boss sends you "Fine." That is terse. The words are correct, nothing is wrong with them, but you can feel that something is being held back: irritation, impatience, or just a wish not to talk to you right now.

Say your boss sends you "Fine."假設你老闆傳給你"Fine."（好）。That is terse那就是terse。The words are correct, nothing is wrong with them用字沒有錯，字面上也沒問題，but you can feel that something is being held back但你可以感覺到有東西被壓在後面沒說出來：irritation, impatience, or just a wish not to talk to you right now可能是不耐、不悅，或只是現在不想跟你講話。

So terse describes replies, messages, emails, notes, and the way someone answers a question. You can also call a person terse, meaning they answer that way, either at that moment or by nature.

So terse describes replies, messages, emails, notes所以terse可以用來形容回覆、訊息、電子郵件、字條，and the way someone answers a question還有一個人回答問題的方式。You can also call a person terse你也可以說一個人terse，meaning they answer that way意思是他們就是這樣回答，either at that moment or by nature可能是當下這樣，也可能是天性就這樣。

There is a second, older, kinder use that still lives in writing about writing: a terse style can mean a good style — short, clean, nothing wasted, every word earning its place. A book reviewer who calls a novel's prose terse is praising it. But that use is now the smaller one, mostly found in reviews and criticism.

There is a second, older, kinder use還有第二種比較舊、也比較友善的用法 that still lives in writing about writing還存在於談論寫作的文章裡：a terse style can mean a good style一種terse的文風可以是一種好文風——short, clean, nothing wasted, every word earning its place簡短、乾淨、沒有浪費，每個字都有它的位置。A book reviewer who calls a novel's prose terse書評家如果說一部小說的文筆是terse is praising it那是在稱讚它。But that use is now the smaller one不過這種用法現在比較少見，mostly found in reviews and criticism主要出現在書評和評論裡。

In everyday talk, if you say someone was terse with you, everyone will hear "they were short with me and probably annoyed". Note the difference from brief and short: brief is neutral (a brief meeting), terse almost always has a temperature to it.

In everyday talk在日常對話裡，if you say someone was terse with you如果你說某人對你terse，everyone will hear "they were short with me and probably annoyed"大家聽到的意思都會是「他對我很簡短，大概是不高興了」。Note the difference from brief and short要注意它跟brief、short的不同：brief is neutral (a brief meeting)brief是中性的（像a brief meeting簡短的會議），terse almost always has a temperature to it但terse幾乎都帶著某種情緒溫度。