utter: English has two distinct words utter, but they come from the same ultimate source – out. The older, ‘complete, thorough-going’ [OE] originated as a comparative form of out (or ūt, as it was in the Old English period), and so morphologically is the same word as outer. It did not begin to be used as an intensive adjective until the 15th century. Utter ‘express openly, say’ [14] was borrowed from Middle Dutch ūteren ‘drive out, announce, speak’, a derivative of Old Low German ūt ‘out’. => out
utter (adj.)
Old English utera, uterra, "outer, exterior, external," from Proto-Germanic *utizon (cognates: Old Norse utar, Old Frisian uttra, Middle Dutch utere, Dutch uiter-, Old High German uzar, German ?u?er "outer"), comparative adjective from ut (see out (adv.)). Meaning "complete, total" (i.e. "going to the utmost point") is from early 15c.
utter (v.)
"speak, say," c. 1400, in part from Middle Dutch uteren or Middle Low German utern "to turn out, show, speak," from uter "outer," comparative adjective from ut "out" (see utter (adj.)); in part from Middle English verb outen "to disclose," from Old English utan "to put out," from ut (see out (v.)). Compare German ?ussern "to utter, express," from aus "out;" and colloquial phrase out with it "speak up!" Formerly also used as a commercial verb (as release is now). Related: Uttered; uttering.
雙語例句
1. Neil's ability to utter banalities never ceased to amaze me.
每次我都很驚訝，尼爾怎么能講出這么索然無味的東西。
來自柯林斯例句
2. A look of utter confusion swept across his handsome face.