喜樂美語
  1. 1aB2/ˈbreɪkəbəl/易碎的

    Made of glass, clay, or a material like them, so it breaks easily if you drop it or knock it.

    示範例句 · Example

    Please put the breakable things on the high shelf, away from the baby.

    逐字請把易碎的東西放在高的架子上，遠離嬰兒。

    「breakable」是 break（打破）加上 -able（可以被…）組成的，可以想成「這東西是會破的」，所以拿的時候要小心。它專門用在玻璃、陶瓷、瓷器這類材質做的東西上，像杯子、盤子、小裝飾品。跟它很近的字各有各的味道：fragile 最常寫在包裹上當警語（易碎品），delicate 是薄薄的、又漂亮的那種容易壞，brittle 是又乾又硬、一折就裂（像乾掉的頭髮），unbreakable 則是反過來——摔不破。

    常見搭配

    • breakable objects

      易碎的物品

      things that break easily and need care

      Put breakable objects out of the reach of small children.

    • breakable ornaments

      易碎的擺飾

      small decorations made of glass or clay

      Aisha packed the breakable ornaments carefully in a soft box.

    • anything breakable

      任何會破的東西

      any thing at all that could break

      Ren cleared the table of anything breakable before the game.

    • breakable glass

      易碎的玻璃

      glass that breaks easily

      The lab replaces its breakable glass equipment every year.

    • easily breakable

      很容易就破

      breaks with very little force

      Thin clay pots are easily breakable, so hold them from the bottom.

core核心畫面

Think of holding a glass: nothing has happened yet, but you know one slip and it is gone. Break + -able = it has the property of being able to break, not that it is broken.

手裡拿著一個玻璃杯，你還沒摔，但你已經知道——只要一鬆手，它就會碎。這個字講的正是那個「還沒發生、但隨時會發生」的狀態。拆開來看就很清楚：break（破、碎）加上 -able（做得到、有可能被…），所以 breakable 不是說東西已經壞了，而是說它有「可以被弄破」這個性質，會不會真的破要看你怎麼對待它。這就是為什麼它總是出現在小心提醒的場合：搬家紙箱上、包裝說明裡、把貴重東西交給別人的時候。

From the word’s history

Transparent formation: break + -able (from Latin -abilis, 'able to be ...'), the same live suffix behind readable, washable, and unbreakable.

結構透明：動詞 break 加上字尾 -able（來自拉丁文 -abilis，表示「可以被…的」）。這個字尾在英語裡是活的，隨時能造新字：readable（讀得下去的）、washable（可水洗的）、unbreakable（打不破的）。認得這個組合，breakable 就不用背——它就是「break 得起來的」。

Wiktionary, entry for 'breakable' (break + -able; suffix from Old French -able, Latin -ābilis)

原始詞典資料4 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。

breakableadj/ˈbɹeɪkəbəl/

  • 1

    Able to break or be broken.

    • The accident was also one of several since Clapham […] that demonstrated the role of breakable windows in the death toll. RSSB research would later confirm and reinforce the need for laminated glass to protect passengers and increase survivability.
  • 2

    Fragile.

    • Next Christmas she sent us bisque dolls, very lovely but too breakable to hug; we could not even kiss them but they cracked.

breakablenoun/ˈbɹeɪkəbəl/

  • 1

    Something that is (easily) breakable.

    • We had to wrap all the breakables before the movers arrived.
    • She was, she wrote, “impatient and absent-minded, prone to drop things intentionally or through clumsiness, even breakables like dishes and love affairs; a woman who is perennially on the move, changing jobs and homes at the drop of a hat and inventing reasons afterward while she is packing; a person who runs away as soon as she gets nervous, long before she smells danger.”
  • 2

    entertainmentlifestylemusicA set of customized hardware that is part of a drum kit. Breakables typically consist of: the drummer's cymbals including high-hats, the snare drum, the kick pedal and the drummer's stool.

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。