Picture two things that are no longer joined or touching — there is a gap, a line, a space between them. From that one picture, 'separate' works as both a state (standing apart, on its own) and an action (putting a gap between things, or being the gap yourself).
From the word’s history
From Latin 'separare', from 'se-' (apart) + 'parare' (to prepare/arrange), i.e. to arrange things apart from one another.
源自拉丁文 separare，由 se-（分開、離開）加上 parare（準備、安排）組成，原意可以想成「把東西安排成各自分開的樣子」——這正對上現代核心「兩者之間隔出空隙」的畫面。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), 'separate'
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。
separateverb/ˈsɛp.əˌɹeɪt/
- 1
To divide (a thing) into separate parts.
- Separate the articles from the headings.
- Ant taxonomists have decided that anything that's worth separating should be separated at the species level, and have no truck with subspecies at all. Butterfly taxonomists, however, like the triple-barrelled name approach and dote on subspecies. As a result, the numbers of ant species and butterfly species are not directly comparable.
- 2
To disunite from a group or mass; to disconnect.
- Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
- From the fine gold I separate the allay [alloy].
- 3
To cause (things or people) to be separate.
- If the kids get too noisy, separate them for a few minutes.
- It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: […]; […]; or perhaps to muse on the irrelevance of the borders that separate nation states and keep people from understanding their shared environment.
- 4
To divide itself into separate pieces or substances.
- The sauce will separate if you don't keep stirring.
- 5
obsoleteTo set apart; to select from among others, as for a special use or service.
- Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
separateadj詞源 1/ˈsɛp.əˌɹeɪt/
- 1
Apart from (the rest); not connected to or attached to (anything else).
- This chair can be disassembled into five separate pieces.
- Syntactically, hendiadic constructions differ from synthetonic sequences in that the latter are separate clauses, and hence are separately negatable and may have different tenses and aspects and different subjects.
- 2
Not together (with); not united (to).
- I try to keep my personal life separate from work.
separatenoun詞源 2/ˈsɛp.əˌɹeɪt/
- 1
Anything that is sold by itself, especially articles of clothing such as blouses, skirts, jackets, and pants.
- French taffeta evening separates – a puffball skirt, and a ruffled blouse – were pressed flat to drag them up to date.
- 2
bibliographycomputingengineeringA printing of an article from a periodical as its own distinct publication and distributed independently, often with different page numbers.
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。