Picture someone standing in a long, slow line, or sitting with the same difficult puzzle for an hour. Nothing is moving, and the pull to sigh, push, complain or walk away is right there — but they stay, and they stay without the inside going hot. That capacity to hold still under a slow or thing can be held as the picture inside 'patience'. It is counted like a supply you carry: it can run low, run out, or be worn thin by other people.
From the word’s history
From Old French 'pacience' and Latin 'patientia' = 'the quality of suffering or enduring', an abstract noun from 'patientem', present participle of 'pati' = 'to endure, undergo, experience'. The card-game sense is recorded from 1816.
拉丁文的 pati 是「承受、經歷」，patientia 就是「能承受的那種特質」。所以這個字骨子裡不是「安靜」或「溫和」，而是「撐得住」——重點在承受的那段過程，不在態度好不好看。順帶一提，跟它同源的還有 patient（病人，本來就是「承受病痛的人」）和 passive，一起記會更清楚。單人紙牌那個用法則是 1816 年才被記錄下來的。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry 'patience'
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料4 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。
Patiencename/ˈpeɪʃəns/
- 1
A female given name from English.
- Meg had named it Patience. "But why?" he had exclaimed, not liking the name at all. "Patience is my favourite virtue," she had replied, "and we can call her Patty for short."
- 2
A surname.
patiencenoun/ˈpeɪ̯.ʃəns/
- 1
The quality of being patient.
- Musical perfection requires practice and a lot of patience.
- I appreciate the patience with which you've explained it.
- 2
Any of various card games that can be played by one person.
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。