rare

1. 这种花儿是很罕见的、很稀有的。
2. 〔人〈r〉是(are)稀有的高级动物〕 

rare 罕有的，罕见的

来自拉丁语 rarus,稀疏的，薄的，松散的，来自 PIE*ere,分开，网，词源同 retina,reticulate. 引申词义罕有的，罕见的。

rare

rare: Rare ‘uncommon’ [15] and rare ‘underdone’ [17] are not the same word. The former was borrowed from Latin rārus, which originally signified ‘having a loose texture, widely separated’ – hence ‘scarce’. It is not known what its ultimate source is. The latter is an alteration of the now obsolete rear ‘underdone’ (originally used mainly of eggs: ‘They had at their dinner rear eggs’, Book of the knight of the tower 1450), which goes back to Old English hrēr – again of unknown origin.

rare (adj.1)

"unusual," late 14c., "thin, airy, porous;" mid-15c., "few in number and widely separated, sparsely distributed, seldom found;" from Old French rere "sparse" (14c.), from Latin rarus "thinly sown, having a loose texture; not thick; having intervals between, full of empty spaces," from PIE *ra-ro-, from root *ere- "to separate; adjoin" (cognates: Sanskrit rte "besides, except," viralah "distant, tight, rare;" Old Church Slavonic rediku "rare," Old Hittite arhaš "border," Lithuanian irti "to be dissolved"). "Few in number," hence, "unusual." Related: Rareness. In chemistry, rare earth is from 1818.

rare (adj.2)

"undercooked," 1650s, variant of Middle English rere, from Old English hrere "lightly cooked," probably related to hreran "to stir, move, shake, agitate," from Proto-Germanic *hrorjan (cognates: Old Frisian hrera "to stir, move," Old Saxon hrorian, Dutch roeren, German rühren, Old Norse hroera), from PIE base *kere- "to mix, confuse; cook" (cognates: Greek kera- "to mix," krasis "mixture"). Originally of eggs, not recorded in reference to meat until 1784, and according to OED, in this sense "formerly often regarded as an Americanism, although it was current in many English dialects ...."

rare (v.)

"rise up," 1833, dialectal variant of rear (v.1). Sense of "eager" (in raring to go) first recorded 1909. Related: Rared; raring.

1. It remained an exceptionally rare book until it was reprinted in 1918.

在1918年再版之前，这本书一直非常罕见。

2. It was a rare pleasure to see him in action.

看他打球是一种享受。

3. As we approached the summit we were vouchsafed a rare vision.

快到山顶时，我们有幸看到了难得一见的景象。

4. Rare birds preen themselves right in front of your camera.

很少有鸟类会在镜头面前梳理自己的羽毛。

5. Ferris has a rare ability to record her observations on paper.

费里斯具备把自己的观察结果记录下来的超强能力。

【rare, scarce】
rare: 形容长期缺少从而珍贵的东西。
scarce: 形容暂时缺乏从而不足的

【typical, unique, rare, common, particular, special】
typical: 典型的
unique: 唯一的
rare: 罕见的，珍贵的
common: 共同的
particular: 特定的，特殊的
special: 特殊的，特别的

【uncommon, rare, scare, occasional】
这组词都有“稀罕的，很少发生”的意思，其区别是：
uncommon: 指一般不发生或很少发生的事情，故显得独特、异常与例外。
rare: 指难得发生的事或难遇见的人或事，侧重特殊性。
scare: 指暂时不易发现、不存在或数量不足，供不应求的东西。
occasional: 指偶然、不时或间或发生的事，侧重无规律可循。