Picture a door that is not locked — it may or may not open, but the way through is there. The core is 'this is able to happen, able to be done': an open space where something could take place.
From the word’s history
From Latin possibilis 'that can be done', from posse 'to be able'. At root the word is about ability — something being able to happen, or you being able to do it — and that 'able' is exactly what stretches into 'a chance', 'an option', and 'potential'.
來自拉丁文 possibilis（做得到的），源自 posse（能夠、有能力）。這個字的根本就是『能』——某件事能發生，或你能去做——正是這個「能」延伸成了「機會」「選項」和「潛力」。
etymonline.com/word/possibility; etymonline.com/word/possible (Latin possibilis, from posse 'to be able')
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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。
possibilitynoun/ˌpɒs.ɪˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/
- 1
The quality of being possible.
- 'There is little possibility of that happening' 'I'd say there's rather a strongish possibility that it won't.'
- 2
A thing possible; that which may take place or come into being.
- Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
- 3
An option or choice, usually used in context with future events.
- Mycelial lives are so other, their possibilities so strange.
- 4
obsoleteCapability, power or capacity to act.
- VVere Iacke Strawe a liue againe, And I in as good poſſibility as euer I was, I would lay a ſurer trumpe, Ere I would loſe ſo faire a tricke.
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。