密歇根新闻广播 两个意思截然不同的单词

At this point and time, it's pretty clear that the words "awful" and "awesome²" aren't interchangeable. But why do their prefixes³ sound identical?

Our listener Kalen asks: Why is awesome a positive word and awful a negative word?

This is a great example of how two words can start in the same place and end up with quite different meanings.

Since both of these words meant awe¹-inspiring at one point in their lives, we should look at awe first.

Awe has changed meaning over time, which helps explain why awful and awesome have changed over time. Early on, awe meant fear or dread⁴. Therefore, to be awe-inspiring meant to inspire awe or dread.

However, later on awe comes to mean respectful fear or reverence⁵, for example, someone could be in awe of the dead. This shift affects awesome and awful.

The earliest meaning of awful is to cause dread or be terrible as well as to be worthy⁶ of profound respect. By the Renaissance⁷ awful could still refer to something that is solemnly impressive, that's why we sometimes see translations of the Bible that refer to an awful God.

By the early 1800s, we start to see some slang uses of awful to mean ugly, frightful⁸, or monstrous⁹, meanings that are much closer to what we have today. At some point, awful also becomes an intensifier: I'm awfully¹⁰ sad.

Awesome is more a little more recent than awful. The Oxford¹¹ English Dictionary puts its earliest usages back to 1598, it meant full of awe or profoundly reverential.

However, even in the 1600s, awesome could mean to inspire awe in the sense of inspiring dread. And, like awful, there are still biblical translations that refer to an awesome God.

By the 20th century, the meaning of awesome weakens to mean remarkable¹² or staggering. Additionally, by the 1970s, we start to see it used as an exclamative or affirmative: How was your vacation? he asked. Awesome! she said.

Can you think of other words that sound similar but have very different meanings?

1 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

2 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

3 prefixes   

n.前缀( prefix的名词复数 )；人名前的称谓；前置代号（置于前面的单词或字母、数字）

参考例句：

• The prefixes cis and trans are frequently applied to disubstituted cycloalkanes. 词头顺和反常用于双取代的环烷烃。 来自辞典例句
• Why do you use so many prefixes while talking? 你说起话来，怎么这么多中缀？ 来自互联网

4 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

5 reverence   

n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• We reverence tradition but will not be fettered by it.我们尊重传统，但不被传统所束缚。

6 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

7 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

8 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

9 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

10 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

11 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

12 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。