patronage

Compared meaning: support given to a person or cause (noun).

比较义项：支持、赞助（名词）。

• backing

  Backing usually means financial, organizational, or political support for a project, plan, or person, often given by investors, sponsors, or institutions; it stresses material or influential help behind an undertaking.

  backing 通常指投资者、机构或政治力量为某项目、计划或人物提供的资金、组织上的支持，强调事业背后的实际或有影响力的帮助。

  The project received strong backing from local investors.

  该项目得到了当地投资者的大力支持。

• patronage 本词

  Patronage means the regular custom a business gets from its customers, or the support a patron gives to an artist or cause; it stresses ongoing loyalty or sponsorship, not money invested in a venture.

  patronage 指顾客对店铺持续的光顾惠顾，或赞助人对艺人、事业的扶持，强调长期的忠实光顾或庇护，而不是对某项事业投入的资金。

  The small shop relies on the patronage of loyal customers.

  这家小店依靠忠实顾客的惠顾维持经营。

Both words mean support for a cause or person. Backing means money or organizational support from investors or institutions. Patronage means a customer's regular business, or a patron's support for an artist. Backing's fabric sense and patronage's political sense are not compared here.

这两个词在“支持”这一义项上都表示给予某项事业或人以帮助，但典型语境不同：backing 多指投资者、机构或政治力量给予的资金、组织上的支持；patronage 多指顾客对店铺的惠顾，或赞助人对艺人、艺术活动的扶持，带有“惠顾、庇护”的意味。这里不比较 backing 的“衬背”义，也不比较 patronage 的“政治任命权、庇护关系”义。