甚至grammar point · tier 1 · 甚至（於） even, to the point of (escalation to the extreme case)
Pushes a statement to its farthest case: even this, the one you would least expect, holds too.
字源 FORM what the parts do
甚 sets a mate (匹) under the sweet (甘) — pleasure doubled, run past the measure; that is its native sense, gone too far. 至 drops something onto the ground line (一) and stops it there — arrived, and going no farther; at arrival's far edge it means the utmost. Together they reach all the way out to the case furthest from the start. The 於 is the bookish tail that adds register, not reach.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A line of things runs out from the near and ordinary, and the hand lands on the one at the very far end.
字源自撰記憶法
框 · Frame
[claim]，甚至 [extreme case / clause]（都/也 …）
觸 · Trigger
You have stated a claim and want to drive it home with the most extreme instance the listener would least expect.
序 · The move
1state the ordinary claim that sets the baseline
2甚至 + the case that lies furthest out from that baselineis this the most surprising instance, the far end of the line — not just one more equal item?
3if the extreme case is a single noun, often pair with 連…都/也 to mark it as the hardest one
例 · Examples
1妹妹younger sister很怕very afraid of黑the dark，甚至even, to the point that連晚上at night睡覺to sleep都要needs to開燈turn on the light。
My little sister is so afraid of the dark that she even keeps the light on to sleep at night.
甚至 escalates a whole clause or item to the far extreme of a claim already made; 連…都… spotlights one single hardest instance and sweeps it in. They stack: 甚至連 X 都 … runs both at once.
還／也
甚至 reaches the most surprising case at the end of the line; 還／也 add one more ordinary item that sits level with the rest, no climb to an extreme.
不但…而且…
甚至 leaps to the single farthest case; 不但…而且… builds by stacking a second full clause one rung above the first.
used for an ordinary added item with no climb: 我會中文，甚至會英文 → 我會中文，也會英文
the extreme case sits before 甚至 instead of after it: 連晚上睡覺都要開燈，甚至她很怕黑 → 她很怕黑，甚至連晚上睡覺都要開燈
running it downhill, the surprising case first then the mild one: 她甚至怕黑，連睡覺要開燈 → 她很怕黑，甚至連睡覺都要開燈
English 'even' is a single word dropped beside the item; learners place 甚至 like that bare adverb and forget that the extreme case it points to comes after it and usually carries 都/也.