instant

1. The name "Instagram" is a portmanteau of "instant camera" and "telegram".
2. instant + -gram / -graph => instagram.

instant 立即的

in-,进入，使，靠近，-st,站立，词源同stand,state.即站在附近的，紧急待命的，后引申词义立即的。

instant

instant: [15] Latin instāre meant ‘be present’ (it was a compound verb formed from the prefix in- ‘upon’ and stāre ‘stand’). Its present participle instāns was used adjectivally for ‘present’, and hence by extension for ‘urgent’. The latter was actually the meaning originally taken up by English, but it has now virtually died out. ‘Present’ was introduced in the mid-16th century (it now survives in the abbreviation inst, used in giving dates to signify ‘the present month’), and by the end of the century this had evolved into the main current sense ‘immediate’.

The noun instant ‘moment’ comes from medieval Latin tempus instāns ‘present time’. Derived from instāns was the Latin noun instantia ‘presence, urgency’. Again it was the latter that originally came into English with instance [14]. The main modern sense ‘example’, first recorded in the 16th century, appears to come ultimately from a semantic progression in medieval Latin from ‘urgency’ to ‘eager solicitation’ and hence to ‘legal pleading’.

Further metaphoricization took it on to ‘new argument or example adduced to counter a previous one’, and hence in due course to simply ‘example’.
=> instance, stand, station, statue

instant (n.)

late 14c., "infinitely short space of time," from Old French instant (adj.) "assiduous, at hand," from Medieval Latin instantem (nominative instans), in classical Latin "present, pressing, urgent," literally "standing near," present participle of instare "to urge, to stand near, be present (to urge one's case)," from in- "in" (see in- (2)) + stare "to stand," from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Elliptical use of the French adjective as a noun.

instant (adj.)

mid-15c., "present, urgent," from Old French instant (14c.), from Latin instantem (nominative instans) "pressing, urgent," literally "standing near" (see instant (n.)). Meaning "now, present" is from 1540s, and led to the use of the word in dating of correspondence, in reference to the current month, often abbreviated inst. and persisting at least into the mid-19c. Thus 16th inst. means "sixteenth of the current month." Sense of "immediately" is from 1590s. Of foods, by 1912. Televised sports instant replay attested by 1965. Instant messaging attested by 1994.

1. In the same instant he flung open the car door.

与此同时，他猛地推开了车门。

2. I had bolted the door the instant I had seen the bat.

我一看到蝙蝠就把门闩上了。

3. At that instant the museum was plunged into total darkness.

就在那时，博物馆陷入了一片漆黑。

4. He smiled back, which for an instant transfigured his unrevealing features.

他回笑了一下，有那么一瞬间不动声色的脸上焕发出容光。

5. With a glazed stare she revived for one last instant.

她最后清醒了一会儿，眼神呆滞。

【minute, moment, instant】
这组词都有“瞬间、片刻”的意思，其区别是：
minute: 指极短的时间，但可觉察到时间的持续。
moment: 较minute所表示的时间短，指一刹那或一段很短时间。有时也含持续的意味。
instant: 常与moment换用，指一瞬间，但更侧重时间短促，多用于表示紧迫、瞬变等情况。

【hasty, urgent, prompt, instant】
hasty: 匆忙的，草率的
urgent: 紧迫的，紧急的
prompt: 快速的，及时的
instant: 立即的，指几乎察觉不到的时间段

【hasty, quick, prompt, fast, instant, rapid, speedy, swift】
hasty: 多指匆忙、草率或仓促的行动，着重缺乏深思熟虑。
quick: 特指瞬时动作，强调动作敏捷迅速；也指匆忙的行为，而不暗示速度很快。
prompt: 主要指动作迅速，毫不拖延，含“快得令人愉悦”的意味。
fast: 常指人或物持续地高速运动，强调运动的方式。
instant: 指某事很快发生或急待解决，含刻不容缓之意。
rapid: 比fast和quick正式，常指运动本身，侧重速度惊人。所指动作可能是短暂的，也可能是持续的。
speedy: 指人或物或其运动、活动时，着重极度的快捷，多含匆忙意味。
swift: 正式用词，强调非常迅速，往往含动作轻快敏捷之意。

【immediate, prompt, momentary, instant】
immediate: 目前的，当前的
prompt: （行动）立刻的，迅速的；
momentary: 瞬息间的；
instant: 即刻发生的