idea

将“idea”分解为“i”和“de-a”，想象“i”代表一个独立的个体，而“de-a”可以联想到“得来”（因某种启发或经验获得）。整个词“idea”可以想象为一个人独立获得了一个创意或想法。这样的联想有助于记忆“idea”表示“想法”或“观点”的含义。

idea 主意，想法

来自拉丁语idea,想象，想法，想象中的上帝的模样，来自PIE*weid,看，字母w脱落，词源同video,evident.引申词义看，幻想，现用于指主意，想法。

idea

idea: [16] Etymologically, an idea is the ‘look’ of something – it comes ultimately from the same source as produced the Greek verb ídein ‘see’. Greek idéā itself was used by Plato in the specialized sense ‘archetypal form of something’, which survives in the derived adjective ideal [17], but as far as the modern English noun is concerned, its sense ‘notion, mental conception’ developed (in Greek) via ‘look, appearance’, ‘image’, and ‘mental image’. Ideology [18] is a derivative, coined originally in French at the end of the 18th century.
=> ideology, idol

idea (n.)

late 14c., "archetype of a thing in the mind of God; Platonic `idea,'" from Latin idea "idea," and in Platonic philosophy "archetype," from Greek idea "ideal prototype," literally "the look of a thing (as opposed to the reality); form; kind, sort, nature," from idein "to see," from PIE *wid-es-ya-, suffixed form of root *weid- "to see" (see vision). Sense of "result of thinking" first recorded 1640s.

Men of one idea, like a hen with one chicken, and that a duckling. [Thoreau, "Walden"]

Idée fixe (1836) is from French, literally "fixed idea."

1. I have a fair idea of how difficult things can be.

我大致了解情况会有多困难。

2. They have only a vague idea of the amount of water available.

他们只是大概知道可用水的总量。

3. Professor Baker is unacquainted with the idea of representative democracy.

贝克教授并不熟悉“代议制民主”这一思想。

4. The police told me. It was a bombshell. I had no idea.

是警察告诉我的。我很震惊，完全没想到。

5. "I told you Preskel had no idea," remarked Kemp with some asperity.

“我告诉过你普雷斯克毫不知情的，”肯普颇为不耐烦地说道。

【idea, intention, purpose】
idea: 指“意见”，“见解”。
intention: 主要指个人心里产生的做某事欲望或得到某物的想法，常见的搭配是have the intention of doing something.
purpose: 意为“目的”，着重于实现目的的决心和待付出的努力。如：For what purpose do you learn English?(你学英文的目的是什么？)

【sentiment, idea, opinion, view】
这组词都有“意见，看法，见解”的意思，其区别是：
sentiment: 着重指基于情感而非推理所得出的，已经固定了的看法，常用复数形式。
idea: 普通用词，通常指凭感觉和想象所形成的看法或意见。
opinion: 普通用词，使用广泛。多指初步的或缺证据支持因而不十分肯定的意见或看法。
view: 侧重指个人对较广泛或重大问题所持的看法，常用复数形式。

【conception, concept, idea, notion, impression, thought】
这组词都有“思想、观点、观念”的意思，其区别是：
conception: 通常指个人或一些人所持有的具体概念或念头，也可指概念的形成过程，含一定的想象和感情色彩意味。
concept: 指从众多实例中通过概括、归纳而形成的对事物本质、全貌及其内部联系的概念或看法。
idea: 最普通常用词，几乎适用于任何方面的思维活动。
notion: 指的是一种模糊的，变化的莫测的想法，无可靠的基础，未经深思熟虑的观点。
impression: 指外部刺激在思想中所产生的印象。
thought: 指以推理、思考等智力活动为基础的心理思维活动及其结果。