Picture people living in a place: smoke rising, a light on after dark, a path worn into the grass. Hold that one picture two ways. Look at the living itself and you get the uncountable meaning — is anyone here at all? Look at what they live in and you get the countable one — the house, the hut, the dwelling. The official phrase unfit for human habitation stands between the two and asks whether living here is possible.
From the word’s history
Habitation comes through Middle English habitacioun and Old French habitacion from Latin habitātiō, 'the act of dwelling'. The starting point is the living, not the building — which is why the uncountable meaning sits at the centre.
habitation 經中古英文 habitacioun、古法文 habitacion，來自拉丁文 habitātiō，原意就是「居住這件事」。起點是「住」，不是「房子」——這也是為什麼不可數的那個意思坐在中間。同一條線上還有 inhabit 和 inhabitant。
Wiktionary entry 'habitation' (Middle English habitacioun < Old French habitacion < Latin habitātiō), supplied in this evidence packet as kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:645883329.
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。