喜樂美語

A useful way to picture it: wood seen as building material — not a tree standing in a forest, but wood on its way into a house.

木頭被當成「蓋東西的料」在看。同樣一棵樹，你若看的是它的葉子和影子，那是 tree；你若看的是它能鋸成幾根樑、撐得起哪面牆，那就是 timber。這個字的重心一直放在「拿來蓋、拿來做」這個用途上，所以它可以往前延伸到還沒砍的那片林子，也可以往後延伸到已經架上屋頂的那根樑。

From the word’s history

Old English timber meant 'building material, the act of building' — the wood-sense came from the building-sense, not the other way round; it traces to a root about building and arranging (compare Latin domus, 'house').

古英語的 timber 原本指的是「建材、蓋房子這件事」，字根跟「建造、安排」有關（跟拉丁文 domus「房子」同源）。也就是說，這個字是先有「蓋」的意思，才用來指蓋房子用的木頭——這正好解釋了為什麼 timber 從來不是泛指木頭，而始終黏著「拿來造」這個用途。

Wiktionary, entry "timber" (etymology from Old English timber, Proto-Germanic *timrą, PIE *dem-)

登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

容易混在一起的字在訂閱裡。容易混在一起的字需要訂閱帳號。

複數 timbers

原始詞典資料14 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。

timbernoun/ˈtɪmbə/

  • 1

    Trees in a forest regarded as a source of wood.

    • collect timber
    • cut down timber
  • 2

    Wood that has been pre-cut and is ready for use in construction.

  • 3

    A heavy wooden beam, generally a whole log that has been squared off and used to provide heavy support for something such as a roof.

    • the timbers of a ship
  • 4

    Material for any structure.

  • 5

    informalengineeringfirearmsgovernmentThe wooden stock of a rifle or shotgun.

  • 6

    archaicA certain quantity of fur skins (as of martens, ermines, sables, etc.) packed between boards; in some cases forty skins, in others one hundred and twenty. Also timmer, timbre.

  • 7

    slangball-gamescricketgamesThe stumps.

timberintj/ˈtɪmbə/

  • 1

    Used by loggers to warn others that a tree being felled is falling.

    • From the core of the trunk come explosive cracks sounding like rifle-fire. The top of the tree begins swaying drunkenly, as if struggling to keep on its feet. The warning cry "Timber!"
  • 2

    A cry used when anything is falling over.

    • The cameras caught the big man crashing to the studio floor. It seemed to take an age for Sticks to hit the deck and as he went down we all chorused "Timberrrr!"

timberverb/ˈtɪmbə/

  • 1

    To fit with timbers.

    • timbering a roof
  • 2

    obsoleteTo construct, frame, build.

    • For many heads that undertake [learning], were never squared nor timbred for it.
  • 3

    falconryhobbieshuntingTo light or land on a tree.

  • 4

    obsoleteTo make a nest.

  • 5

    To surmount as a timber does.

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。