fathom

英 ['fæð(ə)m]美 ['fæðəm]
  • vt. 看穿；彻底了解；测量…的深度
  • n. 英寻（测量水深的长度单位）
TEM4 IELTS GRE 低频词 扩展词汇

助记提示

1. pace, pass <===> fathom, petal, patent.
2. 谐音“发深、发深儿么、发伸”。
3. pace <====> pass.
4. 英寻（fathom），表示“伸展开的双臂”，因而一英寻也就是两臂之长。
5. A fathom (abbreviation: ftm) = 6 feet or 1.8288 metres, is a unit of length in the old imperial and the U.S. customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.
6. Originally based on the distance between a man's outstretched arms. Formerly, the term was used for any of several units of length.

中文词源

fathom 法寻，彻底了解

来自PIE*pet, 展开，伸展，词源同feather, compete. 用作长度单位法寻，约略等于成人双臂展开长度。引申词义探索，彻底了解。

英文词源

fathom
fathom: [OE] The underlying etymological meaning of fathom appears to be ‘stretching out, spreading’. It probably comes ultimately from the Indo-European base *pot-, *pet-, which also produced Latin patēre ‘be open’ (source of English patent) and Greek pétalos ‘outspread’ (source of English petal). Its Germanic descendant was *fath-, which produced the noun *fathmaz, direct ancestor of Old English fæthm.

Here, the notion of ‘stretching out’ seems to have spread via ‘stretching out the arms’ to, on the one hand ‘embrace’ (and one meaning of Old English fæthm was ‘embrace, bosom’), and on the other ‘length spanned by outstretched arms’ – about six feet.
=> patent, petal
fathom (n.)
Old English fæðm "length of the outstretched arm" (a measure of about six feet), also "arms, grasp, embrace," and, figuratively "power," from Proto-Germanic *fathmaz "embrace" (cognates: Old Norse faðmr "embrace, bosom," Old Saxon fathmos "the outstretched arms," Dutch vadem "a measure of six feet"), from PIE *pot(ə)-mo-, from root *petə- "to spread, stretch out" (see pace (n.)). It has apparent cognates in Old Frisian fethem, German faden "thread," which OED explains by reference to "spreading out." As a unit of measure, in an early gloss it appears for Latin passus, which was about 5 feet.
fathom (v.)
Old English fæðmian "to embrace, surround, envelop," from a Proto-Germanic verb derived from the source of fathom (n.); cognates: Old High German fademon, Old Norse faþma. The meaning "take soundings" is from c. 1600; its figurative sense of "get to the bottom of, penetrate with the mind, understand" is from 1620s. Related: Fathomed; fathoming.

双语例句

1. I really couldn't fathom what Steiner was talking about.
我真搞不懂斯坦纳在说些什么。
来自柯林斯例句
2. We're trying to fathom out what's going on.
我们在尽力搞清楚发生了什么事情。
来自柯林斯例句
3. It is hard to fathom the pain felt at the death of a child.
丧子之痛是难以体会的。
来自《权威词典》
4. I can not fathom his meaning.
我不能彻底理解他的意思.
来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
5. I'm having difficulty using my video editing equipment and can't fathom out the various connections.
我不会使用视频编辑设备，而且搞不清各种各样的连接。
来自柯林斯例句