喜樂美語
  1. 1nB1/ˈkɑːntræktər/ · /kənˈtræktə/承包商

    a person or company that agrees to do work for someone else, often building or repair work.

    示範例句 · Example

    We hired a local contractor to fix the school roof before the rainy season.

    逐字我們雇用了一位當地的承包商在雨季之前修理學校屋頂。

    「contractor」指「用合約接下工作、幫別人做事的人或公司」，中文最常說承包商。常見畫面是 building contractor（營造／建築承包商）、hire a contractor（請承包商來做）。它跟 employee 容易搞混：employee 是公司裡的員工；contractor 是外面約來做某件工作的人。也可以想成「先約好要做什麼，再把工作做完的人」——合約（contract）的感覺就在字裡面。

    常見搭配

    • building contractor

      建築／營造承包商

      a person or company hired to do building or repair work

      They asked a building contractor to check the old walls.

    • hire a contractor

      請／雇用承包商

      to pay a contractor to do a job for you

      The school hired a contractor to paint the gym.

    • local contractor

      當地／在地承包商

      a contractor who works in your town or area

      A local contractor finished the playground fence in two days.

    • general contractor

      總承包商

      the main contractor who organizes the whole building job

      The general contractor planned the order of the repair work.

    • independent contractor

      獨立承包人／獨立承包商

      a person who works for themselves under a job agreement, not as company staff

      She works as an independent contractor and chooses her own projects.

    • main contractor

      主承包商／主要承包商

      the chief contractor responsible for the whole job

      The main contractor will finish the library doors next week.

    意思相近

    buildertradespersonsubcontractor

    意思相反

    employeeclient

core核心畫面

You can picture the person who signs the paper and then brings their own crew and tools: they are not on your payroll, they took on a job with an agreed price and an agreed end. A contractor is 'the one who has the contract'.

可以想成那個簽了紙、然後自己帶工班和工具來的人：他不是你公司的員工，而是接下一個講好價錢、講好完工日的工作。字面上就是「持有 contract（合約）的那一方」。

From the word’s history

Contract goes back to Latin contractus, from contrahere 'to draw together' (com- 'together' + trahere 'to draw'); the Romans used that same 'drawing together' image for making a bargain. A contractor is the party drawn into the deal.

contract 可追到拉丁文 contractus，來自 contrahere「拉在一起」（com-「一起」＋ trahere「拉」）；羅馬人正是用這個「被拉到一起」的畫面來講「談成一筆交易」。contractor 就是被那紙約拉進來、負責把事情做完的那一方——所以它天生帶著「講好條件、有始有終」的味道，而不是長期的隸屬關係。

Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/contract

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

複數 contractors

意思相近

buildertradespersonsubcontractor

意思相反

employeeclient

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。

Contractorname

  • 1

    A surname originating as an occupation.

contractornoun/ˈkɒnˌtɹæk.tə(ɹ)/

  • 1

    A person or company that builds or improves buildings or structures.

    • Two days later, walking beyond the usual limit of the conventional promenade, Carrados reached a rough wooden hut such as contractors erect during the progress of their work.
  • 2

    A person or company that performs specific tasks like electrical or plumbing work in construction projects.

  • 3

    A person or company hired to maintain existing facilities like air conditioning systems, groundskeeping, etc.

  • 4

    A person hired to do a job on a business contract, as opposed to a permanent employee.

    • It looks like you're off to a three-hour staff meeting that doesn't apply to me. I'm glad I'm a highly-paid contractor. I'll be increasing my skills while you fight to get oxygen to your brains.

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。