Think of a smooth surface with one small, round, shallow hollow pressed into it — small enough to cover with a fingertip, soft-edged, not a hole and not damage. Every use of the word is that same little hollow, and the only thing that changes is what the surface is: a car roof, a golf ball, a piece of metal, or a person's cheek.
可以想成一個本來平滑的表面上,有一個小小、圓圓、淺淺的凹。小到一根手指就蓋得住,邊緣是軟的,不是破洞,也不算損傷。這個字的每一種用法,畫面都是同一個小凹。變的只是那個表面是什麼:車頂、高爾夫球、一塊金屬,或是一個人的臉頰。
From the word’s history
From Middle English dimpel and Old English *dympel, meaning a pit or depression, from a Germanic root for hole or hollow. The hollow was in the word from the start.
這個字可以追到中古英語 dimpel、古英語 *dympel,意思就是「小坑、凹陷」,再往上是日耳曼語裡表示「洞、坑」的字根。所以「表面上一個小凹」不是後來引申的,而是這個字一開始就在講的東西。
Wiktionary entry 'dimple' (kaikki extract, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:574031223)
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