ineffable: [15] Ineffable literally means ‘that cannot be spoken’. Its ultimate source was the Latin verb fārī ‘speak’, which has also given English fable, fame, fate, etc. Addition of the prefix ex- ‘out’ produced effārī ‘speak out’, from which the adjective ineffābilis was derived. In 19th-century English the word was used as a plural noun, like unmentionables, as a humorous euphemism for ‘trousers’ or ‘nether garments’: ‘shoes off, ineffables tucked up’, William Cory, Letters and Journals 1867. => fable, fame, fate
ineffable (adj.)
late 14c., from Old French ineffable (14c.) or directly from Latin ineffabilis "unutterable," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + effabilis "speakable," from effari "utter," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + fari "to say, speak," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say" (see fame (n.)). Plural noun ineffables was, for a time, a jocular euphemism for "trousers" (1823). Related: Ineffably.
雙語例句
1. The beauty of a sunset is ineffable.
日落的美是難以形容的.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
2. The terror had at long intervals given place to a feeling of an almost ineffable sweetness.
這種膽戰(zhàn)心驚的感覺就偶爾讓位給一種簡直說不出的甜蜜的感覺了.
來自辭典例句
3. They threw this eager vitality of theirs into a vehement striving after the ineffable.
他們把他們的這種熱烈的精力都投入了對一種無法表達的事物的強烈追求.
來自辭典例句
4. She sighed a sigh of ineffable satisfaction, as if her cup of happiness were now full.
她發(fā)出了一聲說不出多么滿意的嘆息, 仿佛她的幸福之杯已經(jīng)斟滿了.
來自辭典例句
5. Actually those ineffable parts are manifested in practical use.