- 1黃道帶；星座（十二星座）。講「你什麼星座？」的那個星座就是這個字。中國的十二生肖英文常說 the Chinese zodiac，但要記得加 Chinese，不然對方會以為你在講水瓶座、天蠍座那一套。
The zodiac is an imaginary belt or band across the sky. The sun, the moon and the planets all seem to move along this band as the year goes by. Long ago people cut this band into twelve equal parts, and gave each part the name of a group of stars: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, and so on. Those twelve parts are the 'signs of the zodiac', and the day you were born decides which sign is yours. When people ask 'What's your sign?' they are asking about the zodiac.
There are two quite different ways this word gets used, and it helps to keep them apart. One is astronomy — real science. still use the zodiac as a way of saying where in the sky something is, because the planets really do stay near that band; that part is simple fact. The other is — the belief that your zodiac sign shapes your personality and your luck. Scientists do not accept that second part. English usually does not mark which one you mean, so you have to hear it from the situation: in a newspaper's back pages it is , in a science book it is astronomy.
The word is a noun, and it almost always takes 'the': 'the zodiac', 'the signs of the zodiac', 'a zodiac sign'. It sounds a bit on its own — in ordinary talk people skip it and just say 'my sign' or name the sign: 'I'm a Leo.' Note also that a person is not a zodiac; a person HAS a zodiac sign.
One more thing worth knowing here in Taiwan. The Chinese twelve-animal cycle — rat, ox, tiger, and the rest — is often called 'the Chinese zodiac' in English, and that is normal, accepted English. But it is a different system: it goes by year, not by month, and its twelve animals are not the same twelve signs. English borrowed the word 'zodiac' for it because both systems have twelve parts and both use animals. When you are speaking to someone from the West, say 'the Chinese zodiac' or 'my Chinese zodiac animal', or they will think you mean Scorpio.
組成From Greek zōidiakós kuklos, 'circle of little animals' — from zōidion, 'little animal', the small form of zōion, 'animal'. It came into English in the late 1300s through Old French zodiaque and Latin zodiacus. So the name simply describes what the ancient Greeks saw up there: a ring of little creatures — a ram, a bull, a crab, a lion, a fish.
原始詞典資料9 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。
Zodiacname
- 1
The Zodiac Killer.
zodiacnoun詞源 1/ˈzəʊ.dɪˌæk/
- 1
astrologyhuman-sciencesmysticismThe belt-like region of the celestial sphere, approximately eight degrees north and south of the ecliptic, which includes the apparent path of the sun, moon, and visible planets.
- Tremulous on the bladed graſs ſhone bright the pearly drops, like an aſſembly of ſparkling ſtars dancing on the plains of the zodiac; vocal was every bending ſpray, every reed was inſpired, each vvarbling throat ſeemed to emulate the melodious voice of the bird of a thouſand ſongs.
- 2
astrologyhuman-sciencesmysticismThe twelve equal divisions of the zodiacal region into signs or houses, each named for a prominent constellation in the region.
- 3
astrologyhuman-sciencesmysticismThe twelve equal divisions of the zodiacal region into signs or houses, each named for a prominent constellation in the region.
- 4
astronomynatural-sciencesThe ecliptic: the belt-like region of the celestial sphere corresponding to the apparent path of the sun over the course of a year.
- 5
Any of various astrological systems considered similar to the above.
- He is so pictured in the ancient Denderah Zodiac, where we see a man coming forth pointing to the three bright stars (Rigel, Bellatrix, and Betelguez) as his.
- Discussing both Chinese and Western zodiacs might be a prewriting activity.
- 6
A circle decorated with the signs of the zodiac.
zodiacnoun詞源 2/ˈzəʊ.dɪˌæk/
- 1
nauticaltransportA inflatable boat.
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。