You can think of gratuity as the money that sits on top. The bill settles what was owed; the gratuity is the extra, handed over for the service a person gave you. Its oldest feeling is that it is given freely, not charged — and every later use is that same extra money in a different setting, sometimes with the freedom quietly taken out of it.
From the word’s history
From Medieval Latin gratuitas, 'a free gift', from Latin gratuitus, 'freely given, free'.
來自中世紀拉丁文 gratuitas（一份免費的禮物），再往前是拉丁文 gratuitus（白白給的）。所以這個字的底色一直是「自願送出」。這也說明了為什麼把一筆強制費用、甚至把賄款叫做 gratuity，聽起來會比較好聽——它借用的正是這層「禮物」的感覺。
Wiktionary etymology supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:574602772:16051)
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料3 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。
gratuitynoun/ɡɹəˈtjuːətɪ/
- 1
An additional payment given freely as thanks for service.
- service gratuity
- cash gratuity
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。