喜樂美語

Picture something valuable slipped to someone quietly — not as payment for a service, but to buy a decision. The money or gift is not the point; what is being purchased is the other person's choice.

私下把一樣有價值的東西塞給某人——不是買他的勞力或商品，而是買他的「決定」。錢或禮物本身不是重點，重點是那個人本來會怎麼做，收了之後就改了。這個字四個用法都踩在同一條線上：用好處換一個本來不會給你的決定。差別只在對方是握有職權的官員（違法），還是不肯吃青菜的小孩（好笑）。

From the word’s history

Middle English bribe came from Old French, where the noun meant "a piece of bread given to a beggar" and the verb briber meant "to go begging". The sense of a handout passing quietly between people is still there — but the direction flipped: it is now the one with power who receives it, and what comes back is a favour.

bribe 來自中古英語，源頭是古法語：名詞 bribe 原本指「施捨給乞丐的一塊麵包」，動詞 briber 是「去乞討」。那個「東西私下從一隻手遞到另一隻手」的畫面留下來了，但方向翻轉了——現在收下的反而是有權力的一方，而遞出去的人要換回來的是一個好處。

Wiktionary, "bribe" (Middle English bribe < Old French bribe "a piece of bread given to a beggar", verb briber "to go begging")

登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

容易混在一起的字在訂閱裡。容易混在一起的字需要訂閱帳號。

同家族的字

v過去式 bribed過去分詞 bribed-ing bribing三單 bribes

n複數 bribes

原始詞典資料5 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。

bribenoun/bɹaɪb/

  • 1

    Something (usually money) given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to breaking the law.

    • c. 1613-1625, Henry Hobart, Yardly v. Ellill Undue reward for anything against justice is a bribe.
    • The bribes I took did not influence me to become evil. I was evil from the beginning and the bribes were merely a bonus
  • 2

    The act of offering or paying such a payment: an act of bribery.

  • 3

    That which seduces; seduction; allurement.

    • Not the bribes of sordid wealth can seduce to leave these everblooming sweets.
    • Remy, this was a bribe! Our whole marriage has been nothing but a series of bribes!

bribeverb/bɹaɪb/

  • 1

    To give a bribe to; specifically, to ask a person to do something against their original will, in exchange for some type of reward or relief from potential trouble.

    • She was accused of trying to bribe the jury into making false statements.
    • October 23, 1848, Frederick William Robertson, an address delivered at the Opening of The Working Men's Institute Neither is he worthy who bribes a man to vote against his conscience.
  • 2

    To gain by a bribe; to induce as by a bribe.

    • to bribe somebody's compliance

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。