Big vs. Large 뉘앙스 차이 이해하기

"요새 다 큰 어른들도...." 라는 문장을 영어로 한번 생각해 보세요. 그럼, "big"이라는 단어가 생각나지 않으시나요?

또, 이런 단어 많이 들어보시지 않았나요? 영미권에서 어른들이 어린 아이들에게 "What a big boy!" 이렇게 말하곤 하는데, 아이를 달래거나 칭찬할 때 주로 사용합니다.

즉, "아이고 잘했네, 이제 다 컸어!", "이제 형이라고 해도 되겠네! 등의 칭찬의 뉘앙스, 명확하지는 않으나 무엇인가 물리적으로 크거나 정신적으로 성장한 것을 묘사하거나 지칭할 때 사용합니다.

자, 그렇다면 "large"는 언제 쓰이는 걸까요?

"Large"는 쉽게 말해 단독으로 쓰일 수 없습니다. 즉, 대뜸 "What a large boy!" 또는 "what a large day!" 이런 식으로 쓸 수 없다는 뜻입니다.

생각해 보면 "large"는 항상 어느 기준에서 물리적으로 크거나, 넓은 것 등의 부피의 개념을 묘사하기 때문에 상대적인 비교를 할 때 사용되는 크기의 단어입니다.

제가 피자를 주문할 때, 카페에서 커피를 주문할 때 사용할 수 있습니다. 여기서 그럼 단어 "big"을 다시 떠올려보세요. 우리는 "big coffee", "big pizza" 라고 표현할 수도 있습니다.

즉, 한글 해석에서 "크다" 라고 직역되어도, "양이 많다" 또는 "사이즈가 크다" 라고 충분히 이해될 수 있습니다.

여기서 감이 오시나요?

"Big"은 막연하게 "큰 것"이라는 의미를 포괄할 수 있는 개념이고, "large"는 꼭 기준이 될 수 있는 대상이 있어야 한다는 것! 그래서 그런지 "big"은 관용적 표현도 많습니다.

Big deal: an important thing or person. “Don’t worry, it’s no big deal.”
Big fish: an important, successful or influential person. “Meeting a big fish like the company's CEO can be quite an intimidating experience for an intern.”
Big ideas: impressive plans. “The reason why I like the new manager is because she has big ideas for this company.”
Big time: a lot, significantly. “This time they've messed up big time.”
Big name: a person or a company of great importance, fame, success or reputation. “There will be a lot of big names at the conference tomorrow.”
The Big Apple: nickname for Manhattan. “We spent the weekend in the Big Apple.”
Mr. Big: the most important person in a group or business. “I met Mr. Big last night. I imagined him much taller, to be honest.”
To think big: to be ambitious. “You have to think big to achieve great things.”
To see/To focus on the big picture: to focus on the most important parts of a situation, rather that the smaller details. “We need to focus on the big picture if we want to finish the project on time.”
To have a big mouth: to be a gossiper; to be a person who tells secrets. “Be careful with him, he has a big mouth.”
To have eyes bigger than one’s stomach: to take/buy more food than one is actually capable of eating. “I can’t finish my meal, I always have eyes bigger than my stomach.”
To have bigger fish to fry: to have more important things to do. “It's really not worth my time. I've got bigger fish to fry!”

하단에 "big"과 "large"의 개념을 이해할 수 있는 연습 문장을 준비해 보았습니다. 여러분 각자 연습해 보고 어려운 부분이 있으면 AI 영어 문법 검사기 엔그램을 통해 확인해 보세요!

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Practice Sentences

Have you seen the new office? It’s really ___.
I told you not to trust him. He’s got a ___ mouth.
They must have invested a ___ amount of money in that building.
The new hire seems very ambitious, I like how she thinks ___.
Quitting your job is such a ___ decision!
New York is an expensive city but, by and ___, I love to live here.
My manager is always very kind with me, he feels like my ___ brother.
I’m not a ___ fan of meetings.
A ___ percentage of our employees prefer to have Sundays off.
You haven’t heard of Mr. Bauer? He’s a ___ fish.
You like that actor? He’s always seemed ___ than life.
What I like about her is that she always sees the ___ picture.
I don’t want to keep calling him, I’m sure he has ___ fish to fry.
Most tax evaders are still at ___.
To a ___ extent, our recruiting team is aware of unconscious bias and are working towards overcoming it.

The answer is...

Have you seen the new office? It’s really big. (*Here, large would be technically correct, but it would sound too formal.)
I told you not to trust him. He’s got a big mouth.
They must have invested a large amount of money in that building.
The new hire seems very ambitious, I like how she thinks big.
Quitting your job is such a big decision!
New York is an expensive city but, by and large I love to live here.
My manager is always very kind with me, he feels like my big brother.
I’m not a big fan of meetings.
A large percentage of our employees prefer to have Sundays off.
You haven’t heard of Mr. Bauer? He’s a big fish!
You like that actor? He’s always seemed large than life.
What I like about her is that she always sees the big picture.
I don’t want to keep calling him, I’m sure he has bigger fish to fry.
Most tax evaders are still at large.
To a large extent, our recruiting team is aware of unconscious bias and are working towards overcoming it.