• adj. 某一；必然的；確信；無(wú)疑的；有把握的
• pron. 某些；某幾個(gè)
• n. (Certain)人名；(葡)塞爾塔因；(法)塞爾坦

來(lái)自PIE*krei, *sker, 切，分開(kāi)。詞源同crisis, crime, discriminate, shear.

certain

certain: [13] Certain comes ultimately from Latin certus ‘sure, fixed’, which derived from the past participle of the verb cernere ‘decide’. The Latin adjective was extended in Vulgar Latin to *certānus, which passed into English via Old French certain. Other English words based on certus include certify [14] (from late Latin certificāre) and its derivative certificate, and certitude [15] (from late Latin certitūdō).
=> crime, crisis, decree, discern, discrete, discriminate, excrement, riddle, secret

certain (adj.)

c. 1300, "determined, fixed," from Old French certain "reliable, sure, assured" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *certanus, from Latin certus "sure, fixed, settled, determined" (also source of Italian certo, Spanish cierto), originally a variant past participle of cernere "to distinguish, decide," literally "to sift, separate" (see crisis).

Of persons, "full of confidence in one's knowledge or judgment," from mid-14c. Euphemistic use (of a certain age, etc.) attested from mid-18c. Certainer, certainest were common to c. 1750, but have fallen from proper use for some reason. Expression for certain "assuredly" is attested by early 14c.

1. There is a certain impatience among some of the soldiers.

有些士兵有點(diǎn)兒不耐煩。

來(lái)自柯林斯例句

2. Over the years he's demonstrated a certain prescience in foreign affairs.

這些年來(lái)，他已經(jīng)在外交事務(wù)方面表現(xiàn)出一定的預(yù)見(jiàn)性。

來(lái)自柯林斯例句

3. I feel certain that it will all turn out well.

我覺(jué)得最后肯定會(huì)皆大歡喜。

來(lái)自柯林斯例句

4. There are certain things he does that drive me mad.

他的某些舉動(dòng)讓我很生氣。

來(lái)自柯林斯例句

5. Parents can programme the machine not to turn on at certain times.

父母可以設(shè)定這臺(tái)機(jī)器的程序，使它在特定時(shí)間段無(wú)法開(kāi)啟。

來(lái)自柯林斯例句