ever

英 ['evə]美 ['ɛvɚ]
  • adv. 永远；曾经；究竟
  • n. (Ever)人名；(英)埃弗；(俄)叶韦尔；(西、法)埃韦尔
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中文词源

ever 永远，始终

来自古英语aefre, 永远，总是。来自词根ev, 永远，时期，词源同eon, longevity. -re词源存在争议，可能来自比较级后缀-er.

英文词源

ever
ever: [OE] For such a common and longestablished word, the origins of ever are surprisingly obscure. It has no relatives in other Germanic languages, so it must be a purely English creation. Its first element probably comes from Germanic *aiwō (which is also represented in English aye ‘ever’ [12] and either, and is related to Latin aevum ‘age’, source of English eternal).

The second element is a puzzle, though. Candidates that have been put forward include Old English feorh ‘life’ (thus, ‘ever in life’) and Old English byre ‘occasion’ (giving the underlying sense ‘on any occasion’). Never was formed in the Old English period with the negative particle ne.
=> aye, either, eternal
ever (adv.)
Old English æfre "ever, at any time, always;" of uncertain origin, no cognates in any other Germanic language; perhaps a contraction of a in feore, literally "ever in life" (the expression a to fore is common in Old English writings). First element is almost certainly related to Old English a "always, ever," from Proto-Germanic *aiwo, from PIE *aiw- "vital force, life, long life, eternity" (see eon). Liberman suggests second element is comparative adjectival suffix -re.

Sometimes contracted to e'er in dialect and poetry. Ever began to be used in late Old English as a way to generalize or intensify when, what, where, etc. The sense evolution was from "at any time at all, in any way" to "at any particular time; at some time or another; under any circumstances." Ever so "to whatever extent" is recorded by 1680s. Expression did you ever? (implying "see/do/hear of such a thing") attested by 1840.

双语例句

1. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.
努力过，失败过，没关系，屡战屡败，屡败屡战，每一次失败都比上一次更好。
来自金山词霸 每日一句
2. I have $100m hidden away where no one will ever find it.
我把1亿美元藏到了一个永远没人会找到的地方。
来自柯林斯例句
3. I can never, ever forgive him. I despise him.
我永远不会原谅他。我鄙视他。
来自柯林斯例句
4. She's got a great voice and is singing better than ever.
她的嗓音非常好，现在的唱功比以往任何时候都要好。
来自柯林斯例句
5. I've had the hots for him ever since he came to college.
自从他来上大学后，我就对他春心萌动。
来自柯林斯例句