You can think of repeatable as asking one question: can this happen a second time? The parts say so — repeat plus -able, able to be repeated. What changes between the uses is what the second time is: doing the thing again, or saying the words again.
repeatable 可以想成在問一個問題:「這件事還能再來一次嗎?」它的組成就寫著答案——repeat 加 -able,就是「可以被重複的」。兩個用法的差別只在「再一次」指的是什麼。一邊是再做一次那件事,另一邊是再說一次那句話。抓住這條線,連 not repeatable 那個看起來很跳的用法也接得回來。
From the word’s history
From repeat plus -able. The ending -able goes back through Old French to Latin -abilis, meaning able to be done.
由 repeat 加上字尾 -able 組成;-able 經過古法文,一路回到拉丁文 -ābilis,意思是「可以被…的」。可以想成:只要看到 -able,就先讀成「可以被…」,這個字的兩個用法都還在這個框架裡。
Wiktionary entry for repeatable (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1427720569), etymology tree: repeat + -able
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