leaven
意味一覧 (2件)
パン種
解説 Definition
名詞 leaven は、生地に混ぜて発酵を起こし、パンをふくらませるための酵母入りの種・発酵剤を指します。少量で全体に作用する「変化のもと」という感覚があり、宗教的・比喩的文脈では人や考えに影響を広げる要素を表します。
Leaven is a substance, such as yeast, that makes dough rise by producing gas. It is mainly used in baking and bread making. The word can also be used in a more figurative way for something that helps bring change or energy.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
leaven は「材料そのもの」として押さえるのが名詞の核です。小さなパン種が生地全体に回って質感を変えるので、a leaven of kindness のように、少量でも全体の雰囲気を変えるものにも使われます。yeast は酵母そのもの、starter は発酵を始める種という実用語ですが、leaven は料理・聖書・比喩にまたがる少し硬めの語。level や eleven ではなく、パンを変える hidden agent と覚えると区別しやすいです。
Put `leaven` in the bread-making scene with `dough`, `yeast`, and `bread`. It is both a noun and a verb, and the verb pattern can remind you of words like `widen` or `sharpen` that mean "make something become...". Also remember the figurative use: something can leaven a heavy mood by making it lighter.
例文
The baker added a small amount of leaven to the dough and left it to rise overnight.
パン職人は生地に少量のパン種を加え、一晩発酵させた。
Her humor served as a leaven, lightening the mood during tense meetings.
彼女のユーモアはパン種のような役割を果たし、緊張した会議の雰囲気を和らげた。
Without any leaven, the bread turned out flat and dense instead of light and fluffy.
パン種がなかったので、パンは軽くふわふわではなく、平たく密になってしまった。
発酵させる
(意味 2)解説 Definition
動詞 leaven は、酵母・パン種を加えて生地を内側から発酵させ、焼く前にふくらむ状態へ導くこと。料理では「生地を膨らませる操作」に焦点があり、名詞のパン種が起こす働きを動作として述べます。重苦しい文体や場を少し和らげる比喩にも広がります。
As a verb, leaven means to add yeast, sourdough, or another raising agent to dough or batter so that it ferments and rises before baking. The focus is on the process that makes the mixture lighter from the inside, not on baking it. It is often used with words like dough, bread, and mixture. It can also be used in a figurative way to mean making something serious or heavy feel lighter.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
leaven を動詞で見る時は、手で持ち上げるのではなく、発酵が中から空気を作って生地を上げる場面を思い描くとよいです。knead はこねる、bake は焼く、leaven は焼く前に「ふくらむ力を仕込む」。名詞 leaven（パン種）から来た動詞なので、目的語には bread, dough, mixture などが来やすいです。比喩では humor leavens a speech のように、重さをほどく働きとして覚えます。
When you think of leaven as a verb, do not imagine lifting dough with your hands. Imagine yeast working inside the dough and making it rise with air before it is baked. Knead is to work the dough, and bake is to cook it, but leaven is to give it the power to rise. In figurative use, leaven can also mean making something heavy feel lighter, as in humor that leavens a speech.
例文
They use natural yeast to leaven the bread dough overnight.
彼らは一晩かけて天然酵母でパン生地を発酵させる。
This recipe leavens the mixture slowly, which gives the cake a softer texture.
このレシピでは生地をゆっくり発酵させるので、ケーキがよりやわらかい食感になる。
A few jokes can leaven a long and serious speech.
少し冗談を入れると、長くて重いスピーチの空気をやわらげられる。
leaven の語源・成り立ち Etymology
フランス語 levain を経て、ラテン語 levamen「持ち上げるもの」にさかのぼり、語根は levare「上げる」。生地をふくらませて上へ押し上げるものだから「パン種」で、elevate や alleviate も同系。
Leaven came through French levain from Latin levamen, meaning "something that raises," from levare, "to lift up." It originally named the substance that makes dough rise. The sense later broadened in English to anything that causes growth or change, and the same root appears in words like elevate and alleviate.
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