Think of air being blown into something until it swells — a tyre, a balloon, a life jacket. That swelling is the picture the word carries; the money sense is the same picture applied to prices, which puff up until the same note buys less.
From the word’s history
From Latin inflationem "a puffing up, a blowing into," from inflare "blow into, puff up" (in- "into" + flare "to blow"). English used it from the mid-14c. for physical swelling; the money sense "enlargement of prices" is recorded by 1838 in American English — the same swelling image applied to prices.
源自拉丁文 inflatio「鼓脹、灌氣」，來自 inflare「往裡吹、使鼓起」（in-「進入」+ flare「吹」）。英文從十四世紀中期就用它講實體的鼓脹；「物價膨脹」這個經濟意思要到 1838 年才在美式英語出現——不是另一個字，而是同一個「灌氣鼓起來」的畫面被拿去講價格。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry "inflation"
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
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。
Inflationname
- 1
astronomycosmologynatural-sciencesThe inflationary epoch of the Universe, where the size of the space of universe expanded at speeds beyond the speed of light. One of the ages of the Universe. The cosmic era when most formulations of Big Bang theory start their timelines.
inflationnoun/ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/
- 1
An act, instance of, or state of expansion or increase in size, especially by injection of a gas or liquid.
- The inflation of the balloon took five hours.
- 2
economicssciencesAn increase in the quantity of money, leading to a devaluation of existing money, adjusted for by way of higher nominal values.
- Due to inflation, the monthly gym fee is rising by 10% from January.
- 3
Undue expansion or increase, as of academic grades.
- 4
astronomycosmologynatural-sciencesAn extremely rapid expansion of the universe, theorized to have occurred very shortly after the Big Bang.
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。