核心畫面

One way to picture 'uniquely': a long shelf of things, and one of them that has no twin anywhere on the shelf. Look along the row as far as you like and the match never turns up. Every use of the word starts from that search coming back empty — sometimes about how a thing was made, sometimes about where it is found, and sometimes about how far it goes.

uniquely 的畫面可以想成一整排東西,其中有一個在整排裡找不到第二個一樣的。你沿著那排一直看下去,配對的始終沒更多收起uniquely 的畫面可以想成一整排東西,其中有一個在整排裡找不到第二個一樣的。你沿著那排一直看下去,配對的始終沒出現。它的每一種用法,都從這個「找不到」開始:有時候講的是做法,有時候講的是只在哪裡找得到,有時候講的是程度到了別人搆不著的地方。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary derives 'uniquely' from 'unique' + '-ly'. 'Unique' carries the idea of there being only one, and the adverb ending lets that idea describe how something is done, or how far it goes.

Wiktionary 說 uniquely 由 unique 加上 -ly 組成。unique 帶著「只有這一個」。加上副詞字尾之後,可以想成把「只有一個」這件事,拿去描述一樣東西怎麼做出來,或是一個程度走到多遠。

Wiktionary via kaikki (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1079355151:4709): "From unique + -ly."

Two branches

找不到第二個一樣的

這一家離核心畫面最近:沿著整排找過去,配對的那個就是不存在。

r · B2

In a way that is different from everything and everyone else, so that no two are the same. It is used about how things are made, designed, named, or numbered.

獨一無二地;各自不同地

別的都比不上的程度

把「找不到第二個」從東西本身移到刻度上:不是沒有別人忙,是沒有別人忙到這裡。

r · C1

In a way that almost nothing else matches. It goes before words like good, busy, difficult, or suited, to say that this one thing stands out from everything else on that point.

無比地;沒有別的比得上