One way to picture it: something that looks like it has substance but is actually empty inside — you reach in and grab nothing. Latin vā means 'empty', and every use of vain is some version of that hollowness: effort with nothing at the end, a threat with nothing behind it, a person up over nothing much.
From the word’s history
From Middle English veyn, from Old French vain, from Latin vānus ("empty, void"). The modern senses are all still readings of 'empty': empty of result, empty of substance, empty of real content behind the pride.
vain 從中古英語 veyn、古法語 vain 來，源頭是拉丁文 vānus，意思就是「空的」。這個「空」一直沒有離開過：徒勞是「結果是空的」，空洞的威脅是「後面是空的」，虛榮是「得意的內容其實是空的」。知道字根是「空」之後，in vain 這個片語就不必硬背——它字面上就是「在空裡」，力氣落在一個沒有東西的地方。
Wiktionary, "vain" (etymology: Middle English veyn < Old French vain < Latin vānus "empty")
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原始詞典資料6 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。
vainadj詞源 1/veɪn/
- 1
Overly proud of oneself, especially concerning appearance; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason.
- Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.
- 2
Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.
- I will not hear thy vain excuse
- Let no man deceive you with vain words.
- 3
Effecting no purpose; pointless, futile.
- vain toil a vain attempt
- Vain is the force of man / To crush the pillars which the pile sustain.
- 4
Showy; ostentatious.
- Yet ſhall (my Lord) your juſt, your noble Rules / Fill half the land with imitating Fools: / VVho random dravvings from your ſheets ſhall take, / And of one beauty many blunders make; / Load ſome vain Church with old Theatric State, / Turn Arcs of Triumph to a Garden-gate, […]
vainverb詞源 2/veɪn/
- 1
obsoletedatedrareTo frustrate.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
- vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia
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。