從表面透出去（字面）
這一組就是核心畫面本身，沒有比喻：真的有東西穿過表面跑到外面。
verb · C1
When a plant transpires, water drawn up from its roots passes out through the surface of its leaves as vapour, through tiny holes called stomata.
（植物）蒸散
核心畫面
You can think of transpire as something passing out through a surface that looks closed. A leaf appears solid, but water is quietly moving up through the plant and out into the air through holes too small to see. Nothing is pushed and nothing is announced; the thing inside simply works its way to the outside. The word carries that same quiet leaking when it is used about facts, and it is still there, , when it is used about events.
transpire 可以想成「東西從一個看起來封閉的表面透出去」。一片葉子看起來是密的，但水正安靜地往上走，從小到看…更多收起
transpire 可以想成「東西從一個看起來封閉的表面透出去」。一片葉子看起來是密的，但水正安靜地往上走，從小到看不見的孔跑進空氣裡。沒有人推它，也沒有人宣布，裡面的東西就這樣滲到外面。這個字拿去講消息的時候，帶的還是同一種安靜滲出的感覺；拿去講「發生」的時候，那個畫面雖然淡了，還是留著一點痕跡。From the word’s history
The word came into English from French, and behind it stand Latin trans (across) and spirare (to breathe) — literally to breathe through. The plant sense is the picture almost unchanged. The become known sense came in from French alongside it, and the happen sense probably grew out of that inside English.
這個字從法文借進英文，後面站著拉丁文的 trans（穿過）和 spirare（呼吸），字面就是「透過去呼吸」。植物的用法幾乎原封不動保留了這個畫面。「變成大家知道的事」這個意思是跟著法文一起進來的；而「發生」的用法，字典認為很可能是在英文裡從前者長出來的。
Wiktionary entry for transpire (kaikki extract 3f6f69a190036ae4): 「Borrowed from Middle French transpirer, from Medieval Latin transpirare (to breathe through), from Latin trans (across) spirare (to breathe). The sense 'to become known' is also present in French, while the sense 'to happen' is no...
Three branches
消息透出來，被人知道
把葉子換成一道門、一間辦公室、一群知情的人，裡面的東西就變成消息。消息不是被宣布的，是慢慢滲出來的——這正是同一個畫面換了材料。
verb · C1
When a fact, a name or a piece of news transpires, it stops being private and becomes known — it works its way out to people who were not told.
傳開；為人所知
事情發生
這一步從「消息透出來」再往前走一格：本來說的是事情被知道，後來連事情本身也用這個字講。字典把它標成寬鬆的用法，並認為這個轉折是在英文裡發生的。
verb · C1
To happen. Used in formal writing, and very often when someone is looking back and setting out exactly what took place.
發生