Picture someone handling something with their whole mind on it — carrying a full cup, on ice — so that nothing goes wrong. To be careful is to be full of that watchful, don't-let-anything-slip attention.
From the word’s history
Careful is care + -ful, 'full of care.' Old English caru meant 'sorrow, anxiety, a weight on the mind' — so being careful was literally being full of that anxious mental attention. The worry later turned into watchful heed: minding something so it stays safe.
careful 是 care +「-ful（充滿）」，字面就是「充滿 care」。古英語的 caru 原指「憂愁、掛心、心上的重擔」，所以 careful 本來就是滿腦子那種掛慮、放不下的注意力。那份擔憂後來轉成了「盯著、提防」：留意一件事，好讓它平安無事。
etymonline.com/word/care
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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。
carefuladj/ˈkɛɹfəl/
- 1
Taking care; attentive to potential danger, error or harm; cautious.
- He was a slow and careful driver.
- Be very careful (while) trekking through the jungle.
- 2
Conscientious and painstaking; meticulous.
- They made a careful search of the crime scene.
- At the same time, we were cognisant that careful scholars should never solely rely on their own impressionistic observations, and, that our own impressions were inexact and not capable of being quantified.
- 3
obsoleteFull of care or grief; sorrowful, sad.
- 4
obsoleteFull of cares or anxiety; worried, troubled.
- Where through long watch, and late daies weary toile, / She soundly slept, and carefull thoughts did quite assoile.
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。