a series of similar items in which each is almost the same as the ones next to it but the last is very different from the first （相邻两者相似但起首与末尾截然不同的）连续体 It is impossible to say at what point along the continuum a dialect becomes a separate language. 要说出同一语言的方言差异到什么程度才成为另一种语言是不可能的。 🔊🔊
Word Originmid 17th cent.: from Latin, neuter of continuus ‘uninterrupted’, from continere ‘hang together’ (from con- ‘together with’ + tenere ‘hold’).