- 1未開發的；尚未利用的（市場、潛力、資源）
Untapped describes something that is there, waiting, and full of value — but nobody has started using it yet. The picture behind the word is a barrel of wine or a rubber tree: the liquid is inside, and you 'tap' it by putting in a tap or making a cut so it can flow out. Untapped means the barrel is still closed.
In modern English it is mostly a business and news word. Untapped market means customers nobody is selling to yet. Untapped potential means a person could do much more than they are doing now. Untapped resources, untapped talent, untapped demand — the pattern is always: valuable + available + not yet used. That last part is why the word feels hopeful and slightly impatient, as if someone should hurry up and use it.
It is almost always used before a noun (an untapped market), not after the verb — 'the market is untapped' is possible but sounds less natural. Teachers and coaches like it about people ('she has untapped potential'), which is a kind way of saying someone is not doing as well as they could.
組成un-（不、還沒）＋ tap（在桶子或樹上開孔取出裡面的東西）＋ -ed。原本的畫面是酒桶還沒插上開關，橡膠樹還沒割開。
同家族的字
- tapthe base word: a tap on a barrel or pipe; to tap a source is to start drawing from it
- tappedsame word without un-: already being used or drawn from
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，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。
untappedadj詞源 1
- 1
Not tapped; not drawn on in terms of resources.
- The author kindly welcomes notification of any terms overlooked, any antedatings of earliest attestations, and any untapped sources that may prove to be productive.
- If 90% (often quoted) of the UK public don't use trains regularly, there is a huge untapped potential market for securing extra passengers.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
- untap
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。