喜樂美語

You can picture explain as making something flat and smooth so the other person can see the whole of it. The Latin root is literally 'to spread out flat' (ex- 'out' + planus 'flat'). A folded, tangled idea sits in your head; to explain is to open it up and lay it out in front of someone, so what was becomes easy for them to follow.

可以想成把一團原本摺起來、纏在一起的想法攤平、鋪開，讓對方一眼看清全貌。explain 的拉丁字根本來就是「往外攤平」（ex- 向外 + planus 平的）。本來在你腦中皺成一團的東西，你把它攤開、講明白，對方就跟得上了。

From the word’s history

From Latin explanare, ex- 'out' + planus 'flat, plain' — literally 'to make flat / spread out', hence 'make plain to understand'.

源自拉丁文 explanare，ex-（向外）+ planus（平、平坦）——字面是「攤平、鋪開」，引申為「講到清楚明白」。planus 也正是英文 plain（平的、清楚的）的來源。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), 'explain'

Two branches

把事情講清楚

登入就可以看這一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

make clear · verb · A2

To make something clear to another person so that they can understand it.

解釋 / 說明

為自己講清楚

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explain yourself (justify your actions) · verb · A2

In 'explain yourself' (this sense) — to tell someone who is angry or upset the reasons why you did something.

為自己的行為辯解

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

過去式 explained過去分詞 explained-ing explaining三單 explains

意思相近

describeclarifyshowtellaccount forjustifyjustify yourselfaccount for yourselfmake yourself clearget your point across

意思相反

confuse

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。

explainverb/ɪkˈspleɪn/

  • 1

    To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.

    • The issue was explained to the governor in detail.
    • The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits. He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. Nobody would miss them, he explained.
  • 2

    To give the reason for, justification for, or cause of.

    • It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].
  • 3

    obsoleteTo make flat, smooth out.

  • 4

    obsoleteTo unfold or make visible.

    • April 14, 1684, John Evelyn, a letter sent to the Royal Society concerning the damage done to his gardens by the preceding winter The horse-chestnut is […] ready to explain its leaf.
  • 5

    To make something plain or intelligible.

    • She tried to explain but he wouldn’t listen.
    • It is easy to modify the account to take this into account, by explaining not just in terms of a set of reasons but in terms of a set of reason–weight pairs.

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。