Welcome to Ask the Editor. I'm Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster.
歡迎來到〈問問編輯〉。我是 Peter Sokolowski，韋氏字典的特約編輯。
The most looked-up abbreviations in our online dictionary are "i.e." and "e.g.," probably for the simple reason that they are so often confused for one another. Both of these are abbreviations of Latin expressions.
在我們的線上字典最常被查詢的兩個縮寫就是「i.e.」和「e.g.」，最簡單的原因大概就是兩者很容易搞混。兩者都是拉丁文縮寫。
"I.e." stands for "id est," which means "that is" in Latin. It introduces a rewording or a clarification of a statement that has just been made or of a word that has just been used, such as "The cough may last for a short period of time—i.e., three to five days."
「I.e.」是「id est」的縮寫，也就是拉丁文中的「也就是說」。運用這個詞，就可以將剛剛的陳述或詞語換句話說，或做更清楚的說明，舉個例子：「咳嗽可能會持續一段時間－－也就是三到五天。」
"E.g." stands for "exempli gratia" in Latin, which means "for example." It introduces one or more examples that illustrate something stated, such as "Submit a sample of academic writing—e.g., a dissertation chapter."
「E.g.」是「exempli gratia」的拉丁文縮寫，意思是「例如」。這個詞後面會接上一個或多個例子，用來加以闡述剛剛講過的事情，例如：「交一份學術寫作的範本－－例如，學術論文的其中一個章節。」
Because their usage can seem similar, these abbreviations are often confused. Just remember that "i.e." and "that is" both share an "i" and that "example" and "e.g." both share an "e." You can also try substituting the English for the abbreviation. "The cough may last for a short period of time—that is, three to five days." "Submit a sample of academic writing—for example, a dissertation chapter."
因為兩個縮寫的用法還滿類似的，所以大家很常搞混。只要記得，「i.e.」和「that is」都有一個「i」，而「example」和「e.g.」都有一個「e」。你也可以試試看把縮寫換成別的英文字。「咳嗽可能會持續一段時間－－也就是三到五天。」「交一份學術寫作的範本－－例如，學術論文的其中一個章節。」
Even though English is a Germanic language, we owe a huge debt to Latin. You don't need to be an MD or have any PhD on your CV to see that English has borrowed pounds of words from Latin. We use Latin day and night, a.m. and p.m. And without it, we'd have to say RIP to huge swaths of English.
雖然英文是日耳曼語系的語言，但我們還是跟拉丁文借了很多字來用。你不需要有醫學博士學位，也不需要在履歷附上博士學位證明，就能看出其實英文借了很多拉丁文來用。我們每天都會用到拉丁文，不分日夜。沒了拉丁文，我們就得向一大部分的英文道別了。
PS: Latin isn't the only language to have an impact on English. There's French, Spanish, Arabic, Greek, etc. But Latin is foundational, QED.
附註：拉丁文並不是唯一對英文有影響的語言。還有法文、西班牙文、阿拉伯文、希臘文等等。但拉丁文是影響最深的，由剛剛舉的例子就可以證明。
PS: To see more videos, visit our website Merriam-Webster.com.
（拉丁文）附註：想要看更多影片，歡迎造訪我們的網站 Merriam-Webster.com。
