喜樂美語

Picture a living thing that has finished growing — it has reached its full size and stage, no longer a child or a young one. 'Adult' is that 'all grown up, done developing' state, and from a person it stretches to animals, to behaviour that acts grown-up, and to things made for grown-up eyes only.

可以想成一個已經長完的生命——身體和階段都到位了，不再是小孩、也不再是幼小的個體。adult 講的就是這個「完全長大、發育到頭」的狀態；從人出發，它再延伸到動物、到「表現得像大人」的行為，以及「只給大人看」的東西。

From the word’s history

From Latin 'adultus', the past participle of 'adolescere' ('to grow up') — literally 'having grown up'. The modern core 'finished growing' is exactly that original sense.

源自拉丁文 adultus，是 adolescere（長大）的過去分詞，字面就是「已經長大了」——和 adolescent（青少年，正在長）同源。今天「長大完成」的核心，正是這個原意。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), 'adult'

登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

同家族的字

複數 adults

原始詞典資料12 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。

adultnoun/ˈæd.ʌlt/

  • 1

    An animal that is full-grown.

    • The young not only differs from the adult by the presence of its gills, but its feet are only developed by degrees, and in several genera there are also a deciduous beak and tail, and intestines of a different form
  • 2

    A person who has reached the legal age of majority.

adultadj/ˈæd.ʌlt/

  • 1

    Fully grown.

    • an adult human, animal, or plant
    • The paws of the adult brown bear, and also their hams, especially when smoked, are considered a great delicacy.
  • 2

    Intended for or restricted to adults rather than children due to size, maturity, knowledge level, judgement, etc.

    • adult clothes; adult cereal; an adult documentary
    • In May 1967 the WGBH Education Division submitted an initial proposal to HUD for a series of four adult television documentaries on conservation in an urban environment.
  • 3

    Intended for or restricted to adults rather than children due to size, maturity, knowledge level, judgement, etc.

    • adult situations; adult discussions
  • 4

    Intended for or restricted to adults rather than children due to size, maturity, knowledge level, judgement, etc.

    • an adult drink; an adult root beer float
  • 5

    Intended for or restricted to adults rather than children due to size, maturity, knowledge level, judgement, etc.

    • an adult cookie; adult gummy worms
  • 6

    Intended for or restricted to adults rather than children due to size, maturity, knowledge level, judgement, etc.

    • an adult movie
    • This program contains adult content. Parental discretion is advised.
  • 7

    Intended for or restricted to adults rather than children due to size, maturity, knowledge level, judgement, etc.

    • adult language; an adult cartoon
  • 8

    Intended for or restricted to adults rather than children due to size, maturity, knowledge level, judgement, etc.

    • an adult menu; an adult fare
    • Children go free, but for those 12 and up, you must purchase an adult ticket.

adultverb/ˈæd.ʌlt/

  • 1

    slangTo behave like an adult.

    • Adulting is hard!
  • 2

    rareTo (cause to) be or become an adult.

    • Womanhood was achieved at twenty-one, when the female was "adulted"; manhood was fully achieved at twenty-five, […]
    • The process of adulting children[…] overlaps with the process of the uncontrolled infiltration of the media[…] into children’s imagination.

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。