切得薄、抹得薄
這是核心畫面本身：刀子下去，留下厚度很小的一片或一層。
r · B1
In a way that leaves only a very small distance between the two flat sides of something, so a slice, a layer or a covering ends up thin instead of thick.
薄薄地
核心畫面
You can picture thinly as a knife going down through a : whatever comes off has almost nothing between its two sides. Hold that one picture and the rest of the word follows. A layer of butter with almost nothing to it. Houses spread over so much land that there is almost nothing in any one spot. A cover over someone's real feeling with almost nothing to it, so you look straight through. Each time, thinly is answering the same question: how little is there between here and the other side?
thinly 可以想成一刀切下麵包的那個瞬間：切下來的那一片，兩個平面靠得極近，中間幾乎沒有東西。抓住這一個畫面，其…更多收起
thinly 可以想成一刀切下麵包的那個瞬間：切下來的那一片，兩個平面靠得極近，中間幾乎沒有東西。抓住這一個畫面，其他用法就順下來了。抹上去的奶油薄到幾乎看不出厚度。房子散在一大片土地上，任何一個點上幾乎什麼都沒有。蓋在真心話上面的那層面紗，薄到你一眼看穿。每一次，thinly 都在回答同一個問題：這裡和另一頭之間，還剩多少東西？From the word’s history
Wiktionary records thinly as thin + -ly, going back to Middle English þynnelich. The adjective describes the thing; the -ly ending turns it into a description of how an action came out.
字典記錄 thinly 就是 thin（薄）加上副詞字尾 -ly，往前可以追到中古英語的 þynnelich。形容詞講東西本身薄，加了 -ly 之後，改成講「這個動作做出來的結果很薄」。
Wiktionary entry for thinly (supplied in evidence packet): "From Middle English þynnelich; equivalent to thin + -ly."
Three branches
散得很開、稀稀疏疏
同樣是「中間幾乎沒東西」，只是從一片食物攤開成一大片土地或一整筆預算。
r · B2
Spread out over a large area with wide spaces in between, so there is very little of something in any one place; also used of money, time or people that are stretched over more than they can cover.
稀疏地；分散地
遮得太薄，一眼看穿
遮蓋物也可以很薄。薄到能看見底下，就成了這一組固定說法。這是教學上的連結方式，不是在說歷史上由哪個用法生出哪個。
r · C1
Used in the fixed expressions thinly veiled and thinly disguised to say that someone is presenting a feeling, attack or purpose as something else, but the cover is so thin that anyone can see what it really is.
幾乎沒遮掩地