Picture the moment after a big earthquake. The worst is over and people start to stand up again — and then the ground shakes once more. It is smaller, it is in the same place, and it arrives without warning. That second shake, and the ones after it, is what aftershock names. The word is built : after- plus shock, the shaking that follows the shaking.

可以想成大地震剛過去的那一刻。最可怕的一下結束了,大家正要站起來,地面卻又搖了一次。比較小、在同一個地方、而且毫無預告。那第二下,以及後面接著來的幾下,就是 aftershock。這個字的組合也很直白:after-(之後)加 shock(震動),就是「震動之後的震動」。記住這個畫面,另一個比喻的用法就不用另外背了。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary records the word simply as after- + shock.

來源資料把這個字記成 after- 加 shock 的組合。字面上就是「之後的那一下震動」,不需要再繞路解釋。

packet wiktionary etymology_text, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1286858236:22594

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