核心畫面

A small bird on a wire, letting out one thin high note. Add -er to that sound and you get a name for whoever or whatever makes it. Every use of the word is a different thing standing on that wire: a bird, a small speaker doing the high notes, a person sending short messages into the air.

可以想成電線上一隻小鳥,發出一聲又細又高的叫聲。tweet 就是那個聲音,後面加 -er,就成了「發出這個聲音的那一更多收起可以想成電線上一隻小鳥,發出一聲又細又高的叫聲。tweet 就是那個聲音,後面加 -er,就成了「發出這個聲音的那一個」。這個字的每個用法,都像站在那條電線上的不同東西。第一個是鳥本身。第二個是喇叭裡負責高音的那一顆,它的名字就是從鳥叫來的。第三個是在網路上發短訊息的人,因為那個平台把短訊息叫做 tweet。這是一種幫助記憶的看法,不是在說這三個用法的歷史一定照這個順序發生。

From the word’s history

The source gives the word simply as tweet + -er, so the bird sound sits at the centre and the other uses are that sound handed to a machine and then to a person.

來源資料寫的是 to tweet + -er,所以鳥叫聲就是這個字的中心。後面兩個用法,是把同一個聲音交給機器,再交給人。

Wiktionary etymology supplied in this packet: "From to tweet + -er." (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:967349086)

From the picture

在網路上發短訊息的人

同一個鳥叫聲,這次被平台借走了:短短一句話就像鳥叫一聲,所以那種訊息叫 tweet,發訊息的人就是 tweeter。

noun · B2

Someone who posts short public messages on Twitter, and, more widely, anyone who posts short messages on that kind of service.

發推文的人;推特用戶

Also in this word

noun · C1

Someone or something that makes a short high sound like a small bird. It is usually said about small birds themselves.

啾啾叫的鳥(或東西)

noun · C1

A small loudspeaker that plays the high sounds in music — cymbals, whistles, the bright top of a singer's voice. It normally sits in the same box as a larger speaker that handles the low sounds.

高音喇叭