喜樂美語

Picture a dial you turn up to push a quality past its ordinary level: warm becomes 'very warm', tired becomes 'very tired'. As an , 'very' is the hand on that dial, turning the strength of an adjective or adverb up high. A second, older thread runs underneath: 'very' once meant 'true / real', and that survives when you point at exactly the right thing — 'the very man I wanted'.

可以想成一個把「程度」往上轉的旋鈕：暖轉成「很暖」，累轉成「很累」。當加強語時，very 就是握著那個旋鈕的手，把形容詞或副詞的強度往上拉。底下還藏著一條更老的線：very 曾經有「真正的、分毫不差的」意思，這個意思在「the very man I wanted（正是我要找的人）」這類說法裡保留了下來。

From the word’s history

English 'very' comes via Old French 'verai' from Latin 'verus' = true/real; the original meaning was 'truly / real', which still shows in 'the very same' (= the truly-same one). The intensifier use ('very big') grew out of 'truly big'.

very 經古法文 verai，來自拉丁文 verus（真、真實），原意是「真正地、實在地」；這個「真正」仍保留在 the very same（正是同一個）裡。加強語的用法（very big）就是從「真的很大」長出來的。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline), s.v. very

登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

意思相近

reallyexactextremelyprecisequiteactualsothe samehighlynot reallynot particularlynot especially+4

原始詞典資料7 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。

Veryname

  • 1

    A surname, variant of Verey.

veryadv/ˈvɛɹi/

  • 1

    To a great extent or degree.

    • That dress is very you.
    • Not very many (of them) had been damaged.
  • 2

    Conforming to fact, reality or rule; true.

  • 3

    Used to firmly establish that nothing else surpasses in some respect.

    • He was the very best runner there.
    • This is my very own treehouse.

veryadj/ˈvɛɹi/

  • 1

    literaryTrue, real, actual.

    • the fierce hatred of a very woman
    • the very blood and bone of our grammar
  • 2

    The same; identical.

    • He proposed marriage in the same restaurant, at the very table where they first met.
    • That's the very tool that I need.
  • 3

    With limiting effect: mere.

    • The very idea of climbing the ladder brings me out in a sweat.
    • The very idea/thought!

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。