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(dá)的事物的強(qiáng)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.