核心畫面

Picture a thin sheet you can almost see through, made of many fine threads or fibres lying across each other. Tissue can be thought of as 'a light, woven-together layer' — hold that and the far-apart uses come together: the soft paper you blow your nose into, the whisper-thin paper around a gift, the material your body is built out of, and even a story woven out of lies.

可以想成一層薄到幾乎透光的東西,由許多細細的絲或纖維交錯疊在一起。tissue 就像是「一片織起來的薄層」——抓住這更多收起可以想成一層薄到幾乎透光的東西,由許多細細的絲或纖維交錯疊在一起。tissue 就像是「一片織起來的薄層」——抓住這個畫面,那些看起來離很遠的用法就會靠攏:擤鼻涕的軟紙、包禮物那層薄得像霧的紙、身體被建構出來的材料,甚至一整套用謊話織成的說法。

From the word’s history

From Old French tissu 'woven, interlaced', from Latin texere 'to weave' (PIE root *teks-). In the late 1300s it meant a band of rich woven fabric; by 1730 any fine light cloth; tissue-paper appears in 1777, said to be the paper laid between fine silks. The body sense came around 1800 from the French anatomist Bichat, picturing interwoven fibres, and by 1929 tissue on its own meant the absorbent paper handkerchief. The weaving picture is what still holds all of them together.

tissue 來自古法文 tissu「織的、交錯的」,源頭是拉丁文 texere「織」(印歐字根 *teks-)。十四世紀末指的是一條華麗的織帶,到 1730 年前後泛指任何輕薄的織物;tissue-paper(棉紙)出現在 1777 年,據說是因為它被墊在高級絲綢之間。生物學上的意思大約 1800 年由法國解剖學家 Bichat 帶進來,畫面正是纖維彼此交織;到 1929 年,tissue 單獨一個字就等於擤鼻子用的紙。把這些意思串在一起的,一直都是「織」這個畫面。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry 'tissue' — https://www.etymonline.com/word/tissue

Three branches

薄薄的一張紙

把「輕薄交織的一層」做成紙:一種拿來擦、拿來包,共同點是薄、軟、一撕就破。

paper tissue · noun · B1

A small sheet of soft thin paper that you use once and throw away, most often to blow your nose.

面紙

身體裡織成的材料

十九世紀初的解剖學家借用同一個「織」的畫面:在顯微鏡下,細胞和纖維交錯排在一起,看起來就像一塊布。

biological tissue · noun · B1

The material that the cells of animals or plants are made of and grouped into.

組織(生物)

用謊話織出來的一片

還是「織」:一句一句的謊被交織成一整塊,聽起來密密實實、有模有樣,其實整片都是編出來的。

a tissue of lies · noun · B1

A story or explanation that is completely untrue — used in the phrase 'a tissue of lies'.

一堆謊言(片語)

原始詞典資料11 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。

tissuenoun/ˈtɪs.juː/

  • 1

    Thin, woven, gauzelike fabric.

    • Madame Legarde, the "glass of fashion and the nurse of form," (alias the most fashionable of milliners,) has comfortably assured me, "that my figure has great merit, and only requires cultivation:" this is to be done by tissues, brocades, and laces, which are now scattered round me in charming confusion.
    • The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue.
  • 2

    A fine transparent silk material, used for veils, etc.; specifically, cloth interwoven with gold or silver threads, or embossed with figures.

    • A Robe of Tiſſue, ſtiff with golden Wire; / An upper Veſt, once Hellen’s rich Attire; [...]
    • In their glittering tissues bear emblazed / Holy memorials.
  • 3

    A sheet of absorbent paper, especially one that is made to be used as tissue paper, toilet paper or a handkerchief.

  • 4

    Absorbent paper as material.

  • 5

    biologynatural-sciencesA group of cells (along with their extracellular matrix if any) that are similar in origin and function together to perform a specific job.

    • What they lack is outermost brain tissue that, at least in humans, prompts awareness and interpretation.
  • 6

    Web; texture; complicated fabrication; connected series.

    • a tissue of forgeries, or of lies
    • unwilling to leave the dry bones of Agnosticism wholly unclothed with any living tissue of religious emotion
  • 7

    slanghobbieshorse-racinghorseracingThe scratch sheet or racing form.

    • Pricing the first show is a matter of the bookmaker's individual judgment, relying upon advice from all quarters, particularly the tissue; but very soon in the betting exchanges it becomes clear that the sole criterion for the fixing of a horse's price is demand.
  • 8

    informalA cigarette paper.

另外 1 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    Anything that is light, thin, and delicate.

tissueverb/ˈtɪs.juː/

  • 1

    To form tissue of; to interweave.

    • The Chariot was couered with Cloth of Gold tiſſued vpon blew.
  • 2

    informalmedicinesciencesTo have the contents of an injection or intravenous drip leak into the tissue as a result of a ruptured or punctured vein.

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