喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can picture wither as what a hot afternoon does to a picked leaf. Nothing hits it and nothing breaks it. The water inside simply leaves. The leaf goes soft, curls at the edge, turns brown and thin, and ends up smaller than it started. It is a quiet loss you can watch happen. Every use of the word borrows that picture: something that was full and alive dries down to less, on its own, because whatever fed it stopped coming.

wither 可以想成一片摘下來的葉子被放在午後的太陽底下。沒有人去傷它，也沒有什麼東西打斷它。裡面的水就這樣一點一…更多收起wither 可以想成一片摘下來的葉子被放在午後的太陽底下。沒有人去傷它，也沒有什麼東西打斷它。裡面的水就這樣一點一點跑掉。葉子先變軟，邊緣捲起來，接著轉褐、變薄，最後比原來小了一圈。這是一種看得見過程的安靜流失。wither 的每個用法都借這個畫面：本來飽滿的東西，因為養分停了，自己一路縮小。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary traces wither to Middle English widren, related to (or perhaps an alteration of) Middle English wederen, to expose to weather, from Old English wederian. Leaving something out in the weather is exactly the slow drying the modern word describes.

依 Wiktionary，wither 來自中古英文 widren，跟中古英文 wederen（把東西暴露在天氣裡，源自古英文 wederian）相關，和 weather 同一條線索。東西擺在外面風吹日曬，久了就乾掉、縮小——這正好是今天 wither 在講的那種慢慢流失。

Wiktionary entry for wither, etymology 1 (packet source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:852319148)

Three branches

植物乾掉、枯萎

這一群就是核心畫面本身，字面上的用法。

verb · B2

If a plant withers, it slowly dries out, gets smaller and starts to die, usually because it has too little water, or too much heat, cold or sun. Heat and frost can also wither plants.

枯萎

慢慢變弱，最後結束

把葉子失水的畫面搬到不是植物的東西上：事業、店家、感情、計畫也會因為養分停了而一路縮小。

verb · B2

If something such as a career, a business, a friendship or a group withers, it gets weaker, smaller or less successful little by little over time, and in the end it stops.

衰退；漸漸消亡

人在眼神或話語下縮起來

同樣是被抽走水分的畫面，只是這次抽走的是一個人的底氣，而且發生在一瞬間。

verb · C1

To suddenly feel small and unable to speak or act, because of the way someone looks at you or speaks to you; also, to make someone feel that way.

（在眼神或話語下）縮起來、說不出話

原始詞典資料9 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。

Withername

  • 1

    A surname.

witherverb詞源 1/ˈwɪðə/

  • 1

    To shrivel, droop or dry up, especially from lack of water.

    • The flowers began to wither in the hot sun without enough water.
    • She watched as the old tree slowly withered with time.
  • 2

    To cause to shrivel or dry up.

    • There was a man which had his hand withered.
    • This is man, old, wrinkled, faded, withered.
  • 3

    To lose vigour or power; to languish; to waste away; to pass away.

    • names that must not wither
    • States thrive or wither as moons wax and wane.
  • 4

    To become helpless due to emotion.

  • 5

    To make helpless due to emotion.

witheradv詞源 3/ˈwɪðə/

  • 1

    obsoleteAgainst, in opposition to.

witherverb詞源 4/ˈwɪðə/

  • 1

    To go against, resist; oppose.

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：

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