Picture picking a thing up and walking off with it - it is light enough, small enough, and it still works when you put it down somewhere else. That second half matters: portable is not just easy to lift, it is 'goes with you and still works'. Once you hear the word that way, portable software and portable benefits stop being strange - the software runs on the next machine, the health cover follows you to the next job.
From the word’s history
Portable came into English in the early 15th century from French portable, from Late Latin portabilis 'that can be carried', from Latin portare 'to carry'. The -able ending marks what can be done to a thing, so the word literally means 'carryable'.
portable 在十五世紀初從法文 portable 進入英文，源頭是晚期拉丁文 portabilis（可以被搬運的），來自拉丁文 portare（搬、運）。字尾 -able 表示「可以被怎麼樣」，所以整個字的字面意思就是「搬得動的」。看懂 port- 這個「搬運」的部件很划算，因為它同時解釋了 portable 四個看起來很散的用法——不管搬的是收音機、是程式，還是你的保險，動作都是同一個：把它從這裡帶到那裡。
Etymonline, 'portable' (etymonline.com/word/portable)
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料9 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。
portableadj/ˈpɔː(ɹ)təbəl/
- 1
Able to be carried or easily moved.
- 2
Able to be transferred from one organization to another.
- a portable pension plan
- Even though Houston’s moment was already fading by the late 2000s, the city’s hip-hop culture proved to be endlessly portable and disseminatable.
- 3
computingengineeringmathematicsOf software: able to be run on multiple hardware or operating systems.
- How do Java and C# create cross-platform, portable programs, and why can't C++ do the same?
- 4
computingengineeringmathematicsOf a program: able to be copied directly from one machine to another without the use of an installer.
- Starting with release 1.7, a portable version allows all Host Attachment Kit commands to be run without installing the Host Attachment Kit.
- 5
obsoleteBearable, endurable.
- How light and portable my paine ſeemes now, / When that which makes me bend, makes the King bow.
- Christianity consists in a blessed exchange of yokes between Christ and a pious soul. He takes our uneasy yoke, and gives his easy yoke: the soul puts upon him that unsupportable yoke of transgressions, and takes from him the portable yoke of his commandments.
portablenoun/ˈpɔː(ɹ)təbəl/
- 1
A portable building used for temporary purposes
- 2
video-gamesA hand-held video gaming device.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
- portable toilet
- portable computer
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。