動(dòng)詞 profess:

1. practice as a profession, teach, or claim to be knowledgeable about
2. confess one's faith in, or allegiance to
3. admit, make a clean breast of
   同義詞：concede, confess
4. state freely
5. receive into a religious order or congregation
6. take vows, as in religious order
7. state insincerely
   同義詞：pretend

1. He professed to know nothing about the matter.
   他聲稱(chēng)對(duì)此事一無(wú)所知。
2. He professed himself to be a poet.
   他自稱(chēng)是詩(shī)人。

pro.fess

v.（動(dòng)詞）
pro.fessed,pro.fess.ing,pro.fess.es
v.tr.（及物動(dòng)詞）
To affirm openly; declare or claim:
公開(kāi)承認(rèn)；宣布或聲稱(chēng)：
例句：
.I profess both to learn and to teach anatomy, not from books but from dissections.(William Harvey)
.我確認(rèn)在學(xué)習(xí)和講授解剖學(xué)中都不能靠書(shū)本，而應(yīng)靠解剖標(biāo)本.(威廉·哈維)

To make a pretense of; pretend:
自稱(chēng)…；假裝：
例句：
.He professed to despise everything that had happened since 850.(Louis Auchincloss)
.他自稱(chēng)厭惡自850年以來(lái)發(fā)生的一切事情.(路易斯·奧金克洛斯)

To claim skill in or knowledge of:
執(zhí)…為業(yè)：聲稱(chēng)精通某一技術(shù)或知識(shí)：
例句：
profess medicine.
行醫(yī)

To affirm belief in:
宣稱(chēng)信仰：
例句：
profess Catholicism.
宣稱(chēng)信仰天主教

To receive into a religious order or congregation.
接受入教：接受…加入宗教組織或團(tuán)體
v.intr.（不及物動(dòng)詞）
To make an open affirmation.
聲稱(chēng)：公開(kāi)承認(rèn)
To take the vows of a religious order or congregation.
宣誓入教：宣誓加入某宗教組織或團(tuán)體

來(lái)源：
Middle English professen [to take vows]
中古英語(yǔ) professen [宣誓]
from Old French profes [that has taken a religious vow] from Medieval Latin professus [avowed]
源自 古法語(yǔ) profes [已宣誓的人] 源自 中世紀(jì)拉丁語(yǔ) professus [公開(kāi)，宣稱(chēng)]
and from Medieval Latin profess3re [to administer a vow]
并源自 中世紀(jì)拉丁語(yǔ) profess3re [進(jìn)行宣誓]
both from Latin professus [past participle of] profitôro [to affirm openly]
都源自 拉丁語(yǔ) professus [] profitôro的過(guò)去分詞 [公開(kāi)宣布]
pro- [forth] * see pro-
pro- [向外，向前] *參見(jiàn) pro-
fatôro [to acknowledge] * see bh3- 2
fatôro [承認(rèn)] *參見(jiàn) bh3- 2

【引伸】
profess.edly