One whole sheet of skin coming away from the body underneath, leaving what was covered now open to the air. Hold that picture and the other uses follow easily: a whip that opens the skin is the same force applied by hand, and a column that takes a public figure apart in print is the same force applied in words. Nothing is left covered. That is why the word always sounds heavier than the thing it is describing.
From the word’s history
Wiktionary gives two separate histories for this spelling. The skinning verb comes from Middle English flen, Old English flean, Proto-West Germanic *flahan. The core image sits right at that root: taking the skin off.
Wiktionary 記錄這個拼法其實有兩條來源。「剝皮」這個動詞來自中古英語 flen、古英語 flēan，再往前是原始西日耳曼語 *flahan。核心畫面就在這個字根上：把皮取下來。另一條來源（古英語 flīeġan「使飛走、驚嚇」）走的是別的路，這份地圖沒有收進來。
Wiktionary (kaikki extract supplied in packet, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:522323649:9575)
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料8 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。
Flayname
- 1
A surname.
flayverb詞源 1/fleɪ/
- 1
dialectalTo cause to fly; put to flight; drive off (by frightening).
- 2
dialectalTo frighten; scare; terrify.
- If they'd let me have my way, I could have flayed him into shape
- 3
dialectalTo be fear-stricken.
flaynoun詞源 1/fleɪ/
- 1
dialectalA fright; a scare.
- 2
dialectalFear; a source of fear; a formidable matter; a fearsome or repellent-looking person.
flayverb詞源 2/fleɪ/
- 1
To strip the skin off; to skin.
- The farmer flayed him as he had the bear, and so he had both bear-skin and fox-skin.
- 2
To lash or whip.
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。