Picture someone who has poured all their attention into one narrow patch of knowledge and set the rest aside. Because they only work that one patch, inside it they know far more, and go far deeper, than anyone around them.
From the word’s history
"specialist" grows from "special," from Latin specialis "individual, particular," itself from species "a kind, a sort." At root a specialist is the person of one particular kind of thing — not the whole field, just one slice of it.
specialist 由 special 來，special 源自拉丁文 specialis「個別的、特定的」，再往上是 species「種類」。所以字根裡藏著的畫面比較像：專攻「某一個特定種類」的人——不管整片領域，只認那一小格。
etymonline.com/word/specialist ; etymonline.com/word/special
原始詞典資料8 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。
specialistadj/ˈspɛʃəlɪst/
- 1
Specialised, involving detailed knowledge of a restricted topic.
- This was a highly specialist job, and it has been very carefully carried out so that it is very hard to see that these windows are now modern replacements.
specialistnoun/ˈspɛʃəlɪst/
- 1
Someone who is an expert in, or devoted to, some specific branch of study or research.
- 2
hobbieslifestylesportsA player on a team who primarily employs one particular skill or takes one particular role.
- 3
medicinesciencesA physician whose practice is limited to a particular branch of medicine or surgery.
- Dr. Robert Leroy Hutton, a retired specialist in internal medicine and a well‐known diagnostician, died yesterday here.
- Most Americans mistakenly believe that they must see specialists for almost every medical problem.
- 4
governmentmilitarypoliticsAny of several non-commissioned ranks corresponding to that of corporal.
- 5
An organism that is specialized for a particular environment.
- The tree Lepidothamnus laxifolius is a high alpine specialist found in high-altitude bog communities and in scrub.
- 6
A stenotopic species.
- 7
A sixth-former at Eton College.
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。