undoing
元に戻す
解説 Definition
undoing は、すでに行ったことを取り消したり、元の状態に戻したりすることを表す名詞です。また、人や計画を失敗に導く原因という意味でも使われます。
Undoing is the act or process of reversing something that has been done. It can also mean the cause of a person’s failure, ruin, or loss of success, especially in the expression “be someone’s undoing.”
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
un-「反対・元へ」＋ do「する」＋ -ing「行為」で、まず「したことを取り消す行為」と分解する。the undoing of changes は変更を元に戻すこと。一方、be someone’s undoing は「その人を破滅・失敗させる原因」という定型表現なので、his impatience was his undoing の形ごと覚えると二つの語義を整理できる。
Break undoing into un-, meaning reversal, do, and the noun-forming -ing: literally, it is the process of reversing what was done. Use “the undoing of the changes” to remember this direct sense. Then learn the fixed pattern “be someone’s undoing.” If impatience was his undoing, impatience caused his failure or ruin; it did not merely reverse one action. The two meanings connect because both involve destroying or reversing an achieved state. Keeping the two common sentence frames separate makes the noun easier to recognize and prevents confusion with the ordinary verb form “undoing a button.”
例文
The undoing of the changes took longer than expected.
変更を元に戻すことは予想より時間がかかりました。
His lack of patience was his undoing.
忍耐力のなさが彼の失敗の原因でした。
The team focused on the undoing of the damage caused by the error.
チームはそのミスによる損害を元に戻すことに集中しました。
undoing の類義語・関連語
紛らわしい語
undoing の語源・成り立ち Etymology
古英語の反転接頭辞un-・動作do・名詞化-ingが結合し「行った行為を取り消す」が語源です。同語根のdoneやdeedと比べ、アクションを巻き戻すイメージが直感的です。だから「元に戻す」に加え、名詞では「失敗の原因」を表すのも納得できます。
Undoing combines the native English prefix un-, expressing reversal, with do and the suffix -ing. Both un- and do go back to Old English. The earliest compositional sense is the act of reversing or destroying what has been done. From the idea of destroying a result or condition, the noun developed the figurative meaning “ruin” and then “the cause of someone’s failure,” now common in the phrase “be someone’s undoing.”
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