喜樂美語

You can start from the most physical picture: a heavy load pressing down on someone's back as they carry it. From that weight-on-your-shoulders image, 'burden' stretches to any heavy thing you have to carry — a worry, a duty — even when nothing real sits on your back.

可以先從最實在的畫面出發：一個人背上壓著沉甸甸的重物，一步步扛著走。從這個「壓在肩上的重量」出發，burden 再延伸到任何你得扛起來的沉重東西——一份煩惱、一項責任——就算背上其實沒放任何實物。

From the word’s history

From Old English byrðen 'a load, weight, charge', from the root *bher- 'to carry' (the same root behind 'bear'). The word literally names 'that which is carried' — so the leap from a physical load to a heavy responsibility is built right into it.

源自古英語 byrðen「負載、重量、負荷」，來自字根 *bher-「攜帶」（也是 bear「承載」的字根）。這個字字面就是「被扛起來的東西」，所以從實體重物跳到沉重的責任，本來就藏在字義裡。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com/word/burden)

登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

n複數 burdens

v過去式 burdened過去分詞 burdened-ing burdening三單 burdens

意思相近

ladenloadonusloaded downweightresponsibilityweighed downobligationstraintroubleweigh downsaddle+2

原始詞典資料18 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。

Burdenname

  • 1

    A surname.

  • 2

    A minor city in Cowley County, Kansas, United States.

  • 3

    A village in Erpeldange commune, Luxembourg (French spelling).

burdennoun詞源 1/ˈbɜːdn̩/

  • 1

    A heavy load.

    • I know that this was Life,—the track ⁠Whereon with equal feet we fared; ⁠And then, as now, the day prepared The daily burden for the back.
    • There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear more coming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they were carrying burdens.
  • 2

    A responsibility, onus.

  • 3

    A cause of worry; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive.

    • c. 1710-1730, Jonathan Swift, The Dean's Complaint Translated and Answered Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone, / To all my friends a burden grown.
  • 4

    The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry.

    • a ship of a hundred tons burden
    • "[…] The quay is upwards of 1,000 feet in length, and capable of accommodating more than 100 sail of traders; and there are generally a considerable number of vessels of from 40 to 300 tons burden, from various parts of the world, waiting to receive their cargoes."
  • 5

    businessminingThe tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin.

  • 6

    artscraftsengineeringThe proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the charge of a blast furnace.

  • 7

    A fixed quantity of certain commodities.

    • A burden of gad steel is 120 pounds.
  • 8

    obsoleterareA birth.

    • … that bore thee at a burden two fair sons.
另外 2 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    medicinesciencesThe total amount of toxins, parasites, cancer cells, plaque or similar present in an organism.

  • 10

    The distance between rows of blastholes parallel to the major free face (i.e. face of the excavation)

burdenverb詞源 1/ˈbɜːdn̩/

  • 1

    To encumber with a burden.

    • to burden a nation with taxes
    • My burdened heart would break.
  • 2

    To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable).

    • He was beginning to forget his burdening, despairing mood of a short while ago.

burdennoun詞源 2

  • 1

    entertainmentlifestylemusicA phrase or theme that recurs at the end of each verse in a folk song or ballad.

    • Foot it featly here and there; / And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.
    • As commonly used, the refrain, or burden, not only is limited to lyric verse, but depends for its impression upon the force of monotone - both in sound and thought.
  • 2

    The drone of a bagpipe.

    • BURDEN in some musical instruments, the Drone or Bass, and the pipe or string that plays it
  • 3

    A theme, a core idea.

    • the burden of the argument

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。