• n. 细节，详情
• vt. 详述；选派
• vi. 画详图

de-, 向下，强调。-tail, 切，词源同retail, tailor. 即完全切开的，引申义细节。

detail

detail: [17] Etymologically, a detail is a ‘little piece cut off’. It comes from French détail, a derivative of détailler ‘cut up’. This was a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix dé- and tailler ‘cut’ (a relative of English tailor and tally). English acquired the word via the French phrase en détail ‘piece by piece, item by item’, source of the central modern meaning ‘individual item, particular’.
=> tailor, tally

detail (n.)

c. 1600, from French détail, from Old French detail "small piece or quantity," literally "a cutting in pieces," from detaillier "cut in pieces," from de- "entirely" (see de-) + taillier "to cut in pieces" (see tailor).

Modern sense is from French en détail "piece by piece, item by item" (as opposed to en gros), a commercial term used where we would today use retail. Military sense is 1708, from notion of "distribution in detail of the daily orders first given in general," including assignment of specific duties.

detail (v.)

1630s, from French détailler "cut up in pieces; narrate in particulars," from Old French detaillier, from detail (see detail (n.)). Related: Detailed; detailing.

1. No detail was too small to escape her attention.

再小的细节都逃不过她的眼睛。

来自柯林斯例句

2. Though off-puttingly complicated in detail, local taxes are in essence simple.

虽然地税在细节上复杂得要命，但在本质上却很简单。

来自柯林斯例句

3. The painting had been executed with meticulous attention to detail.

画这幅画的时候，画家非常注意细节。

来自柯林斯例句

4. Service was outstandingly friendly and efficient, falling down on only one detail.

服务态度极佳，效率也蛮高，仅在一个小地方不尽人意。

来自柯林斯例句

5. It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. We discussed it in detail beforehand.

这可不是头脑一热作出的决定。我们事先仔细地讨论过。

来自柯林斯例句