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A tort is a wrong that one person does to another which is NOT a crime, but which the person can sue over in a civil court. The word is legal English — a lawyer's word, a law-school word. You will almost never hear it in ordinary conversation, and if you say it at a dinner table people will assume you studied law. Here is the line it draws. If someone steals your bag, that is a crime: the government prosecutes the thief, and the punishment is prison or a fine paid to the state. If someone drives and breaks your leg, that is usually a tort: the government may not get involved at all, but YOU can take that person to court and ask them to pay you money for what you lost. The point of a tort case is not to punish — it is to make the person whole again. Money, not prison. The same act can be both, though, and this is where students get lost. If a man punches you, the state can prosecute him for assault (crime) AND you can separately sue him for battery (tort). Two courts, two cases, two different questions. The criminal court asks "should society punish him?" The civil court asks "what does he owe you?" Common torts: negligence (you were careless and hurt someone), defamation (you said things that damaged someone's reputation), trespass (you came onto their land without permission), nuisance (your factory's smell ruined their evenings). Grammar note: it is a countable noun. "He committed a tort." "She is suing in tort." And there is a whole field of law named after it — "tort law", or in law school simply "Torts", which is the name of a course.
侵權行為（法律用語）。台灣法律課本裡就是這個詞，指民事上的不法侵害，跟刑事犯罪分開，賠的是錢不是坐牢。注意不要跟「torte」（一種蛋糕）搞混，兩個字讀音相近但完全無關。
組成From Latin tortus, "twisted, crooked" — the past participle of torqueō, "to twist". A tort is behaviour that is bent out of shape, not straight. The word travelled through Old French tort ("a wrong") into Middle English.
同家族的字
- torturesame Latin torqueō, 'to twist' — originally the twisting of a body to cause pain
- distortdis- + torqueō, to twist something out of its true shape
- contortcon- + torqueō, to twist together or twist badly
- torquethe twisting force an engine makes — directly from torqueō
- retortre- + torqueō, to twist a remark back at the person who said it
原始詞典資料8 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。
tortnoun詞源 1/tɔːt/
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lawA wrongful act, whether intentional or negligent, regarded as non-criminal and unrelated to a contract, which causes an injury and can be remedied in civil court, usually through the awarding of damages.
- […] Wrong or Iniury, is in French aptly called Tort, becauſe Iniury & wrong is wreſted or crooked, being contrary to that which is right and ſtreight. […] And Britton ſaith that Tort a la ley eſt contrarye [a wrong to the law is contrary], and as aptly for the cauſe aforeſaid is iniury in English called wrong.
- Personal actions are ſuch vvhereby a man claims a debt, or perſonal duty, or damages in lieu thereof; and likevviſe vvhereby a man claims a ſatisfaction in damages for ſome injury done to his perſon or property. The former are ſaid to be founded on contracts, the latter upon torts or vvrongs: […] of the latter all actions for treſpaſſes, nuſances, aſſaults, defamatory vvords, and the like.
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obsoleteAn injury or wrong.
- Then gan triumphant Trompets ſovvnd on hye, / That ſent to heuen the ecchoed report / Of their nevv ioy, and happie victory / Gainſt him, that had them long oppreſt with tort, / And faſt impriſoned in ſieged fort.
- For no vvild beaſts ſhould do them any torte / There or abroad, ne vvould his maieſtye / Vſe them but vvell, vvith gracious clemencye, / As vvhome he knevv to him both faſt and true; […]
tortadj詞源 2/tɔːt/
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obsoleteTwisted.
- And the firſt that came and gaue them moſt comfort was Henry Erle of Lãcaſter with yͤ wrie neck, called Tort coll [torticollis], who was brother to Thomas Erle of Lãcaſter yͭ was behedded, as ye haue heard before, who was a right vertuous & good knight as after ye ſhal here.
tortadj詞源 3/tɔːt/
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dialectalSynonym of tart (“sharp- or sour-tasting; (figuratively) keen, severe, sharp”)
tortadj詞源 4/tɔːt/
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obsoletedialectalSynonym of taut (“stretched tight; under tension”).
- Yet holds he them with tortest rein, / That they may seize and entertain / The glance that to their glance opposes, / Like fiery honey sucked from roses.
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obsoletedialectalnauticaltransportOf a boat: watertight.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
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。