tendency

Compared meaning: the general direction something develops (noun).

比较义项：事物发展的总体方向、倾向（名词）。

• trend

  Refers to a general direction that something (often prices, fashion, society, or statistics) is developing or changing over time; typically collective and measurable, used with words like 'growing', 'upward', 'toward'.

  指某事物（常指价格、时尚、社会或统计数据）随时间发展变化的总体方向；通常是集体性、可测量的，常与 growing（不断增长的）、upward（上升的）、toward（朝向）等词搭配。

  Analysts say the trend in housing prices is clearly upward this year.

  分析师称，今年房价的走势明显是上升的。

• tendency 本词

  Refers to a person's or thing's repeated, habitual way of behaving; grammatically often followed by 'to + verb', and applies to individual behavior rather than large-scale statistical change.

  指一个人或事物反复出现的、习惯性的行为方式；语法上常接“to + 动词”，用于个体行为，而非大范围的统计性变化。

  She has a tendency to interrupt people before they finish speaking.

  她有一种习惯，总是在别人说完话之前打断对方。

Trend and tendency both mean a direction something is slowly moving in. Trend describes a large, measurable pattern, such as prices or statistics, changing over time. Tendency describes a person's or thing's repeated habit, not a big statistical change.

这两个词都可译作“趋势、倾向”，指某种情况逐渐显现的方向，但 trend 通常指大范围、可观察或可统计的发展方向，而 tendency 更常指个人或事物反复出现的行为习惯。两者不能随意互换：statistics 常搭配 trend，个人习惯常搭配 tendency。