ineffable的词源

英文词源

ineffable: 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.

in-,不，非，ef-,向外，-fab,说出，词源同fable,phone.即不好说的，引申词义难以言喻的。

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：ineffable 词源，ineffable 含义。

in-为否定前缀；前缀ef-相当于ex-，指“出，向外”；词根fa-表“说”；-able为形容词后缀。有些单词中的fa-指“说”，如fame（名声，名声是口口相传而来的），fable（寓言，寓言是“说”的故事），fate（命运，词源上命运是上帝之语）。