You can picture wish as wanting something that you can't simply reach out and take — it sits on the other side of a gap. You feel the pull toward it, but it may not come true: it depends on luck, on someone else, or on how the world turns out. Everything else grows from that one feeling of 'I want this, but I can't just make it happen' — hoping hard, longing for what's out of reach, blowing out candles and making a silent wish, and the polite, careful way of saying you'd like something.
From the word’s history
Wish comes from Old English wȳscan 'to wish, desire', from Proto-Germanic *wunskijaną, ultimately from the PIE root *wen- 'to strive for, desire, be content'. The same root gives Venus and 'win'. From the start it named the inner pull toward something desired — exactly the modern core.
wish 來自古英語 wȳscan（盼望、渴望），更早可追到原始印歐語字根 *wen-「努力追求、渴求」（Venus 維納斯、win 都同源）。它從一開始就在講「心裡那股朝某物伸過去的渴望」，正好就是現代的核心畫面。
etymonline.com/word/wish; Wiktionary 'wish'
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料11 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。
Wishname
- 1
A surname.
- There was Evans, and that marvel among actors, Wish, who is also a modest man. We had all come down to the Mermaid Club that Saturday morning, except Clayton, who had slept there overnight […]
wishnoun/ˈwɪʃ/
- 1
A desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen.
- It is my wish that the bequest (should) be given to an almshouse.
- make someone's wish come true
- 2
An expression of such a desire, often connected with ideas of magic and supernatural power.
- make a wish
- LESTER: You believe in wishes? I mean, you believe they come true? CHESTER: Nah. I believe in wishes, but I don't believe they come true. Not unless it's a real easy wish, like "I wish I was at a birthday party." But you gotta blow out all the candles, or else the wish don't come true. If one candle stays lit, you don't get your wish.
- 3
The thing desired or longed for.
- My dearest wish is to see them happily married.
- You have my best wishes.
- 4
A water meadow.
wishverb/ˈwɪʃ/
- 1
To desire; to want.
- I'll come tomorrow, if you wish (it).
- I wish it to be known that I wish them all to leave the company.
- 2
archaicTo hope (+ object clause with may or in present subjunctive).
- I wish he mean me well, that he takes so much pains!
- She hears that Miss Bigg is to be married in a fortnight. I wish it may be so.
- 3
To hope (for a particular outcome), even if that outcome is unlikely to occur or cannot occur.
- This is as good an argument as an antiquary could wish for.
- Mr. White took the paw from his pocket and eyed it dubiously. "I don't know what to wish for, and that's a fact," he said slowly. "It seems to me I've got all I want."
- 4
To bestow (a thought or gesture) towards (someone or something).
- We wish you a merry Christmas.
- I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
- 5
To request or desire to do an activity.
- Anyone who wishes to may leave now.
- Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
- 6
To recommend; to seek confidence or favour on behalf of.
- I was wished to your worship by a gentleman.
- Farewell: yet for the loue I beare my sweet Bianca, if I can by any meanes light on a fit man to teach her that wherein she delights, I will wish him to her father.
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。