understand

• vt. 理解；懂；獲悉；推斷；省略
• vi. 理解；懂得；熟悉

詞源理解存爭議。under-, 來自inter-變體，在裏麵，詞源同interact, undertake,stand, 站立，立場，即站在裏麵的，同一立場的。引申詞義理解，懂得。

understand

understand: [OE] The compound verb understand was formed in the centuries immediately preceding the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain. It is composed, of course, of under and stand, and the semantic link between ‘standing under’ something and ‘knowing about’ it may be ‘being close to’ it.

understand (v.)

Old English understandan "comprehend, grasp the idea of," probably literally "stand in the midst of," from under + standan "to stand" (see stand (v.)). If this is the meaning, the under is not the usual word meaning "beneath," but from Old English under, from PIE *nter- "between, among" (cognates: Sanskrit antar "among, between," Latin inter "between, among," Greek entera "intestines;" see inter-). Related: Understood; understanding.

That is the suggestion in Barnhart, but other sources regard the "among, between, before, in the presence of" sense of Old English prefix and preposition under as other meanings of the same word. "Among" seems to be the sense in many Old English compounds that resemble understand, such as underniman "to receive," undersecan "examine, investigate, scrutinize" (literally "underseek"), underðencan "consider, change one's mind," underginnan "to begin." It also seems to be the sense still in expressions such as under such circumstances.

Perhaps the ultimate sense is "be close to;" compare Greek epistamai "I know how, I know," literally "I stand upon." Similar formations are found in Old Frisian (understonda), Middle Danish (understande), while other Germanic languages use compounds meaning "stand before" (German verstehen, represented in Old English by forstanden "understand," also "oppose, withstand"). For this concept, most Indo-European languages use figurative extensions of compounds that literally mean "put together," or "separate," or "take, grasp" (see comprehend). Old English oferstandan, Middle English overstonden, literally "over-stand" seem to have been used only in literal senses. For "to stand under" in a physical sense, Old English had undergestandan.

1. It was clear Cohen didn't understand what Millard was driving at.

看得出科恩並不明白米勒德想說什麽。

來自柯林斯例句

2. I thought, "Here'ssomeone who'll understand me." So I wrote to her.

我想：“這個人會理解我的。”於是開始給她寫信。

來自柯林斯例句

3. "Please understand this," she began, a tremble in her voice.

“請理解這一點，”她開始說道，聲音有些發顫。

來自柯林斯例句

4. What I did for you was free, gratis, you understand?

我為你所做的一切都是免費的，無償的，你明白嗎？

來自柯林斯例句

5. "I can understand how you feel," Desmond said with great reasonableness.

“我能理解你的感受，”德斯蒙德很通情達理地說。

來自柯林斯例句