核心畫面

The everyday `unused` is the easy one: a thing sitting there with nobody touching it — an unused room, an unused ticket, half a tube of paint nobody opened. Something exists, and no hand has come to it. The surprise is the second `unused`, in `unused to hard work`, which is not about a thing at all — it is about a person who has not done something enough times for it to feel normal yet. Same spelling, two different old jobs of the word `use`: to employ something, and to have a habit of something.

日常那個 unused 很好懂:東西就放在那裡,沒有人去碰它——沒人住的房間、沒去看的票、開都沒開過的顏料。東西在,更多收起日常那個 unused 很好懂:東西就放在那裡,沒有人去碰它——沒人住的房間、沒去看的票、開都沒開過的顏料。東西在,但沒有一隻手伸過來。真正會讓人愣一下的是第二個 unused,出現在 unused to hard work 這種句子裡:它講的根本不是東西,而是一個人還沒做過幾次某件事,那件事對他還不熟。同樣的拼法,其實接的是 use 這個字兩份不同的老工作:一份是「拿來用」,一份是「習以為常」。

From the word’s history

Both halves go back to use, but by two old routes. The verb came c.1200 from Old French user "employ, make use of", from Latin uti "make use of" — that is the unused room line. The noun came c.1300 from Old French us "custom, practice, usage", from Latin usus "use, custom, practice, habit"; from an intransitive sense of use meaning "accustom, make accustomed", be used to = "be accustomed to, be familiar with" is attested from late 14c. So unused to is not the employ-branch at all — it is the habit-branch, which is why it takes a person and a to.

兩邊都回到 use,但走的是兩條老路。動詞 use 約 1200 年從古法語 user「使用、運用」進來,源頭是拉丁語 uti「使用」——這條線長出「沒在用的房間」。名詞 use 約 1300 年從古法語 us「習慣、慣例、用法」進來,源頭是拉丁語 usus「使用、習慣、慣例」;再從 use 一個「使習慣」的不及物用法,14 世紀晚期就有了 be used to =「習慣於、對某事熟悉」。所以 unused to 根本不在「拿來用」那一支上,它站在「習慣」那一支,這也解釋了為什麼它後面接的是人跟 to。

Online Etymology Dictionary, entries "use (v.)" and "use (n.)" (etymonline.com/word/use)

Two branches

沒有被拿來用

字面的那一支:un- 加在「被使用的」前面,畫面比較像東西在、手沒到。

not in use · adjective · A2

Not being used now, or never used before.

未使用;閒置

還不習慣

這一支不是從「沒被使用」比喻過來的,而是 use 另一個老意思(習慣、慣例)留下來的直系後代,所以不要硬把它想成「這個人沒被用到」。

not used to something · adjective · B1

Not used to something, because you have little or no experience of it.

不習慣

原始詞典資料2 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。

unusedadj/ʌnˈjuːzd/

  • 1

    Not used.

    • I have two unused vouchers for a free meal.
    • If you have an unused credit for a year for which you also have additional tax liability because of an early disposal of an asset, you may reduce the added tax liability by the current year's unused credit that may be carried back solely because of recomputation of the investment credit for the prior year.
  • 2

    Not accustomed (to), unfamiliar with.

    • I am unused to the dark nights of the countryside.
    • I pray you in your Letters, / When you ſhall theſe vnluckie deeds relate, / Speake of me, as I am. […] / Of one, whoſe ſubdu'd Eyes, / Albeit un-vsed to the melting moode, / Drops teares as faſt as the Arabian Trees / Their Medicinable gumme.

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。