fathom
英 ['fæð(ə)m]
美 ['fæðəm]
- vt. 看穿；徹底了解；測量…的深度
- n. 英尋（測量水深的長度單位）
助記提示
1. pace, pass <===> fathom, petal, patent.
2. 諧音“發深、發深兒麽、發伸”。
3. pace <====> pass.
4. 英尋（fathom），表示“伸展開的雙臂”，因而一英尋也就是兩臂之長。
5. A fathom (abbreviation: ftm) = 6 feet or 1.8288 metres, is a unit of length in the old imperial and the U.S. customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.
6. Originally based on the distance between a man's outstretched arms. Formerly, the term was used for any of several units of length.
中文詞源
fathom 法尋，徹底了解來自PIE*pet, 展開，伸展，詞源同feather, compete. 用作長度單位法尋，約略等於成人雙臂展開長度。引申詞義探索，徹底了解。
英文詞源
- fathom
- fathom: [OE] The underlying etymological meaning of fathom appears to be ‘stretching out, spreading’. It probably comes ultimately from the Indo-European base *pot-, *pet-, which also produced Latin patēre ‘be open’ (source of English patent) and Greek pétalos ‘outspread’ (source of English petal). Its Germanic descendant was *fath-, which produced the noun *fathmaz, direct ancestor of Old English fæthm.
Here, the notion of ‘stretching out’ seems to have spread via ‘stretching out the arms’ to, on the one hand ‘embrace’ (and one meaning of Old English fæthm was ‘embrace, bosom’), and on the other ‘length spanned by outstretched arms’ – about six feet.
=> patent, petal - fathom (n.)
- Old English fæðm "length of the outstretched arm" (a measure of about six feet), also "arms, grasp, embrace," and, figuratively "power," from Proto-Germanic *fathmaz "embrace" (cognates: Old Norse faðmr "embrace, bosom," Old Saxon fathmos "the outstretched arms," Dutch vadem "a measure of six feet"), from PIE *pot(ə)-mo-, from root *petə- "to spread, stretch out" (see pace (n.)). It has apparent cognates in Old Frisian fethem, German faden "thread," which OED explains by reference to "spreading out." As a unit of measure, in an early gloss it appears for Latin passus, which was about 5 feet.
- fathom (v.)
- Old English fæðmian "to embrace, surround, envelop," from a Proto-Germanic verb derived from the source of fathom (n.); cognates: Old High German fademon, Old Norse faþma. The meaning "take soundings" is from c. 1600; its figurative sense of "get to the bottom of, penetrate with the mind, understand" is from 1620s. Related: Fathomed; fathoming.
雙語例句
- 1. I really couldn't fathom what Steiner was talking about.
- 我真搞不懂斯坦納在說些什麽。
來自柯林斯例句
- 2. We're trying to fathom out what's going on.
- 我們在盡力搞清楚發生了什麽事情。
來自柯林斯例句
- 3. It is hard to fathom the pain felt at the death of a child.
- 喪子之痛是難以體會的。
來自《權威詞典》
- 4. I can not fathom his meaning.
- 我不能徹底理解他的意思.
來自《現代英漢綜合大詞典》
- 5. I'm having difficulty using my video editing equipment and can't fathom out the various connections.
- 我不會使用視頻編輯設備，而且搞不清各種各樣的連接。
來自柯林斯例句